The Unexpected
by DSecret
Summary: OC. One day, a three year old boy turned up in an alley way of Konoha with a laptop, something very foreign in the Naruto World. Who is this boy? How does he know so much about Naruto and the others?
1. The Ultimate Dream

This is my first fanfition so please be nice to me. Also English is my second language, so there WILL be mistakes even though I have spell-check. Have I missed out anything… oh yeah, the disclaimer.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, I only own the strange boy. He is all mine…

Anyway, on with the story.

'Thought'

"Speech"

* * *

Chapter one – The Ultimate Dream

It was inside a narrow dark alley that a small blond child found himself running for his life. Ignoring the sharp stings from the various small wounds on his body, he blindly stumbled along, listening with his fear-heightened hearing for the heavy footfalls of his pursuers. Gasping for breaths, the only things that were keeping him going were the spikes of fear and adrenaline.

But he knew, no matter how fast he ran, he would eventually lose in this unjust "game" of tag. He whimpered softly when he, through the pounding of his heart, heard gleeful shouts echoing loudly around him. Throwing his head wildly about him, his eyes searched for any likely escape route. Unfortunately, like most of the alleys, it was closed-off between two buildings with not even a window for him to bang on for help. It was this bitter conclusion that he came to and fresh tears welled over the already stained cheeks.

"He-Help," he choked out, a word most children of his age would not know the meaning of. "Please…"

Suddenly, a hand shot out from nowhere and grabbed the frantic boy by the shoulder. He gave a squeak before he was pulled into the protective layers of shadows and against a warm body. With an arm and a leg wrapped around his limbs and a hand clamped over his mouth, he was unable to struggle other than a few spasms due to fear. He was edging towards hyperventilation, feeling his mouth dried and skin clammy, when he heard a voice beside his ear.

"Please stop your struggling, Naruto, or they will find us."

The boy, Naruto, immediately became still, unsure whether it was due to a direct order to him or the loud bangs that indicated the close proximity of his pursuers. The two grown men stopped a couple of metres away from the hidden duo, looking around with obvious excitement that was tinted with annoyance. Naruto was sure if he did not stop his heart anytime soon, it would definitely give them away.

"Where did that whelp go?" one of them, a large masculine man, yelled angrily, testosterone and adrenaline pumping wildly. He slammed a meaty fist into wooden box next to him, failing to notice how the splinters bounced off before they reached the wall.

Naruto held his breath and was surprised when the person behind him shielded him from the sharp toothpick-like wood. A few stuck to flesh but the silhouette was silent and had remained still.

"He can't be too far away!" the equally macho companion gruffly replied, narrowing his eyes and casting his sight further down.

The figure behind Naruto suddenly flicked a wrist, allowing a pebble to fly out and away from them. Clattering nosily when it landed, it instantly drew the attention of the two irresponsible men. The two adults glanced at each other and loped after the noise, their faces supporting wicked grins as they went. The hunt was on once again.

Soon the dark alley was silent again with dust settled back down to normality, only to be disturbed again when Naruto stumbled out into the limited sunlight. He stared fearfully at the silhouette despite the fact that he was just saved by it. But there were just too many reasons why someone would want to save him, and it was always better to be safe than sorry. "You… Who?" he stuttered, backing into the wall behind him.

The figure hesitated before slowly stepping out of the shadows and it was then Naruto finally saw who had saved him. A boy, no older than Naruto himself, came into the light. He was dressed in simple tee-shirt and shorts but they were completely black, further enhancing the pale complexity of his skin and hair. While most might seemed dull or cold in so much black, the way the boy was carrying himself gave the air of kindness but was awkward with the current situation. He gave a tentative smile to the blond, attempting to form some kind of link between them. Blue eyes met gold eyes as the two children stared at each other.

Avoiding any big movements, the boy crouched slightly so he was no longer looming over Naruto and said gently, "My name is Hitsuka. Please to meet you, Naruto." He extended a hand that was meant for a handshake but quickly retreat it when the blond flinched. "Sorry, sorry," he said quietly, trying not to startle the child any further. "Please, I am not here to hurt you."

Naruto was uncertain how he should respond to this sudden kindness. He had already learnt that even children would not hesitate in hurting him. Well, "monkey see, monkey do". But this boy… he was like no other. His eyes focused on the wounds from the wood shards on the boy's arm and cheek. They were merely small artificial wounds as they had already stopped bleeding and beginning to scab over, they were still evidences of protection.

Swallowing hard, Naruto nodded and when Hitsuka reached out again, he only shuddered slightly before allowing the other to pat him on the head. While still on guard and was sure that Hitsuka would be disgusted with him now, he was surprised to see the boy was still smiling and was not repulsed by him. "You… friend?" he asked quietly, wasn't sure who he should trust anymore.

Sadden by this tentative question, Hitsuka nodded. "Yes, I am your friend." He reached into the backpack he had with him for his drink bottle which he used to wet his handkerchief. "Here," he said, patting the ground, indicating that Naruto should sit down, "I will clean you up a bit and you should rest for a while too."

Following the instructions, Naruto sighed deeply as he only just realised how tired he was. He did not fight the wet cloth when it was wiped across his face, instead he allowed himself to enjoy the rare attention. Searching for any sign of annoyance or displeasure, he constantly found himself surprised by the fact that the other, Hitsuka, genuinely wanted to help him. With the sunlight casting down on them, he smiled softly at the angle-like image his saviour portrayed completed with a halo of reflected light around his white hair.

When Hitsuka was done, he permitted himself a small flinch that he made sure went unnoticed by Naruto. Despite his knowledge, it was still a bit discerning to find someone unscratched under all that blood and grime. Picking himself up, he offered a hand to the blond child. This time, without any hesitation, it was accepted by a small hand that felt strong despite its frailty.

"Come, I will walk you home now," he said and chuckled. "But you'll have to give the directions."

Naruto giggled as well and, giving the widest grin he had, he said, his voice filling with emotions, "Thank you."

"You are welcome."

* * *

Tada… The rewrite version. Well, there's really no big differences in the plot so anyone who's reading this the first time or, I am flattered, the second time or more, it does not matter. Honestly, the reason why I am doing this is 1) the need to procrastinate, and 2) I am ashamed of my writing.

Consider I started this fanfic a couple of years ago, my writing style have changed rather dramatically. Besides from the grammatical errors and things like that, I would like to think that I have improved on describing things and general layout. Seriously, I cringed at how bad things sounded in the original (I still have the original, just for the sake of memory).

To all the readers out there, thank you for reading my fanfiction and put up with all my bad writing. I shall from now on continue to work on improving my skills and hopefully bring you more by updating more often.

Thank you.

By the way, I will slowly work my way through all the later chapters. Like I said, no major changes, only making them sound better and flow smoother. Yes… More work…


	2. Who’s the Shrimp?

This is the rewritten version. I hope people will still like and support it. Looking at the old chapters, I've realised that I seemed to always miss out the disclaimer. Eek… copyright cops are hot on my ass.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, plot, jutsu etc. by Kishimoto Masashi. I only own Yuki Hitsuka.

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

* * *

Chapter two – Who's the Shrimp?

The two boys made their way slowly through the mildly busy street. It was just after noon so most people were still at home having lunch and away from the midday heat. They had made several stops along the way as the two three-year-old tired easily.

During one of their stops, which happened to be in front of a small restaurant, Hitsuka paused at his reflection, his eyes tracing the edges. 'Oh wow… I am a freakin' baby,' he thought, giving a dry laugh.

Oh, he was no mere three-year-old child. In fact, he was not even part of the Naruto World. Imagine his confusion when he was suddenly jostled awake in the middle of a busy, wearing a smaller version of his pyjamas which he did not notice until later. Bewildered, as he was sure he was at home sleeping after a long night of studying for the upcoming exams, he was pushed and shoved until his feet automatically followed the flow of the crowd.

The first thing that alerted him something was wrong was when he noticed how, overnight, the whole Japanese population had become giants and he had missed out on the announcement. Then he nearly fainted when a child skipped past him.

It was he who had shrunk.

After he had staggered into a family restaurant, earning himself a couple of weird looks from the waiters and customers, he quickly slipped into the toilet. Once he made sure the door was locked and a chunk of his top in his mouth, he silent screamed at his reflection, leaned unsteadily against the wall, and jumped up again to make sure he was not seeing things.

Nope, he was not. At least now he knew his eyes were working even after the intense kneading he did with his hand. Several slaps to the face later, he was also sure he was not dreaming, otherwise it was a very painful dream. Making up his mind to find out where he actually was, he wondered out into the street once again, ignoring the dirty look the restaurant manager was giving him. One thing he noticed was that everyone all dressed very differently and several people looked like they were in some kind of cosplay. They looked familiar, that was for sure.

Then he understood why, after all, the giant faces of four people he came to know very well in the last couple of months were practically in his face. The Hokage Monument. He was in bloody Naruto World.

Annoyed by the constant push and shove as that meant he could not concentrate on thinking, he squeezed his way into an alley and sat down in the patches of shadows, putting the backpack he had next to him. How was this even possible? Of course he was overjoyed by the fact he had achieved all fans' dream and could not wait to do some damage. But what if he was destroying the flow of time and dimension? Where in the timeline was he? Why the heck was he a kid? So many questions swam in his head until he wanted to find a drill and drilled a hole in his head to let them out.

It was then he heard running footsteps and someone in obvious distress. Looking further down the alleyway, he knuckled his eyes yet again lest he was hallucinating. There was no way Uzumaki Naruto was running towards him. The blond hair, blue eyes were common enough in the world. But the whisker marks were not. Holy… that explained his transformation into a kid as the main character of this World obviously was still one.

So this was how the two children had met.

Pulled back into reality by a small tug on his sleeve, Hitsuka looked down and smiled at the timid child by his side. How could anyone blame this cute child for what that demon had done, he could not understand. Mind boggled.

Readied to move on, Hitsuka was mildly annoyed when a lady blocked their path in the relatively empty street. Surely there was more space to walk. Never less, he automatically smiled, getting one in response.

"My dear, didn't your mummy or daddy told you not to go near that thing?" she asked kindly as if she was just wondering if he was lost. "Now come here, my dear. Leave that thing to us adults; we will take care of it." The glint in her eyes revealed her ultimate motive.

Hitsuka just stared dumbly at her, thinking that this could not be happening. Did the villagers here really get away with this kind of behaviour to Naruto? Especially since the boy himself was under the protection of the village leader, Hokage-sama. Humans were really ugly. Like Thomas Hobbes said, "Man is by nature solitary, poor, nasty and brutish." But he supposed there were always other factors but they did not make what they were doing right.

Sighing, he gave the trembling boy by his side a firm squeeze with his hand. With a bright smile on his face that temporary warded the crowding villagers off; he fumbled with one of the pockets on his backpack. Ohh… the villagers didn't know what hit them.

Pink smoke burst out from where the two boys stood, causing tears to spring out from the onlookers' eyes with its acidic fume. They spluttered and cried, pushing and bumping into each other as they try to escape from the smoke. But soon, they started to scream as horrifying hallucinations flashed in front of their eyes. "No! Not Hokage-sama in a thong!" they cried, welcoming the darkness when they fainted. For those with tougher minds, they were rewarded with Maito Gai in nothing but a loin cloth.

Ninja came to investigate but quickly backed away when more were fallen to the evil pink smoke. They had no choice but cut the entire street off and put the persisting smoke under watch, too afraid to blow it apart with any jutsu. Eventually, it faded to nothing, leaving its victims with skins and hair of the same colour. When everyone woke up, they were horrified that they now shared the same physical appearances as the Haruno family.

Somewhere in the Hokage Tower, an old man could be seen wheezing, clutching his side as tears ran down his wrinkled face due to the fact he laughed too hard in front of his glass sphere. It was the funniest thing he had seen in ages and he was glad that something had lightened up the tense atmosphere of the village.

After he was sure that no one was terribly deformed, he switched his chakra to link to that of Naruto's. When he first noticed the disturbance in the street, he had immediately monitored the situation through his crystal ball and discovered the two children in the heart of it. With a lurch of his heart, he was sad to see one of them was Naruto and that, once again, the villagers had decided to go against his law.

For a moment he was afraid that the seemingly innocent white-haired child was just another bully and was about to send one of his ninja over. But when he saw how careful the boy had treated Naruto and that the source of pink smoke – that had acted as a diversion, he suddenly realised – was from him, he relaxed slightly. For the moment, he decided, he would just keep an eye on the two, especially the unknown boy.

_With Naruto and Hitsuka_

Hitsuka laughed quietly as he remembered the effects of his smoke bomb. 'I can't believe it had really worked! Ironically enough, it was inspired by Haruno Sakura,' he thought with amusement. But his good mood quickly dispersed when he saw yet another glare sent their way again. Frowning in annoyance, he rummaged through his backpack and found what he was hoping to find.

"Here," he said, pulling the loose hoodie over Naruto's head. Slightly shocked, the blond child looked up in confusion. "You looked slightly cold," Hitsuka explained, tugging the hood down further, casting shadows on the child's face that shone with delight. Rarely anyone would pay attention to him and now there was someone who was actually worried about him.

They had soon arrived at Naruto's apartment with no extra troubles and Naruto quickly unlocked the door to let them in.

It was the smell that hit him first like a very physical fist. Blinking the tears away, Hitsuka was shocked to see the mess the small apartment was in. "Naruto, who's taking care of you?" he asked quietly.

Naruto looked deep in concentration. "Lady below," he said slowly, looking for the words he wanted. "She doesn't come many time."

With a sigh, which he was quick to assure it was not directed at Naruto, he urged the blond child towards the bathroom, intending on running a bath for him.

While he was washing the grime and blood off from Naruto, he had once again noticed that all the cuts and bruises had faded and disappeared, leaving the skin clear and mismatched to the rips on the discarded clothing. "Close your eyes," he cautioned, bringing the showerhead over the blond head to rinse the suds off.

Immediately squeezing his eyes shut so that his whole face was scrunched up, Naruto felt a hand moving over his head and he leaned into the comfortable touch. He began to wonder about Hitsuka, thinking just how lucky he was to be found by him today. While he was still shy towards the white-haired boy, he had started to trust him with his heart.

"Thank you," he mumbled, a blush instantly coloured his cheeks.

With a soft smile that Naruto could not see, Hitsuka gave the small head a pat. "Don't mention it."

After making sure Naruto was clean, the white-haired boy quickly wrapped him in the cleanest towel he could find, drying him. 'While I doubt this kid could get sick, there's no reason to continuously relying on Kyuubi's power,' he thought and quickly steadied a wobbly Naruto. "Off to bed with you," he ordered jokingly with a wide smile in case the child misunderstood him.

Naruto squealed happily and ran off to hide under the duvet.

* * *

Another one done! Once again, I haven't changed much in terms of plot. I only moved a couple of things and add a bit more to improve the storyline.

I hope you like this new version and please review.

If you don't, well, please review to let me know.


	3. House Work, Joy

Hopefully this one is better than the last one!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto though it would cool if I can draw like that.

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

* * *

Chapter Three – House Work, Joy

Hitsuka had stayed with the small boy until he had fallen asleep, just like Naruto had asked for. During that time, he had watched the blond child with a soft smile playing on his lips. He marvelled at how this sleeping face seemed so angelic and innocent, while only an hour ago it was ragged and covered in blood.

He noted, with relief, that despite the abuse, Naruto was not starved and malnutrition. Though, that had meant the villagers knew enough to know the 'container's' healing ability so while they could hurt him, they could not starve him for appearances sake. At that thought, Hitsuka grinded his teeth so hard his jaw ached.

Sighing quietly, he extracted his hand out from Naruto's and stood up with a stretch. 'May as well do some cleaning, just so I won't think about what's going to happen to me,' he thought with a shudder. 'How can anyone live in this condition!? What is the Hokage doing!' Each room was a mess, the smell unbearable and the dust and grime had practically solidified on every surface.

With a grimace, he decided to begin in the bathroom as he did not want to disturb the sleeping child. 'I don't even like chores and now I have to do this in a three-years-old body!?' he mentally screamed, his inner self banging his head repeatedly. 'At least there are only four rooms: bathroom, toilet, storage room and the huge room with everything else…'

_Eight hours later_

Naruto knew he was awake yet he was reluctant to open his eyes. He was sure it had all been a dream and all would be lost as soon as he leave it – the place where someone actually stayed and took care of him. Some who was not hurting him. Someone who liked him.

He lied there, dreaming of a place he could've been and sighed in content.

Gradually, he felt a warm presence next to him. He instantly seized up, fearing for the worst. Slowly turning his head, he cracked open his eyes at the last moment, afraid of what he would see. What was before surprised him greatly, as if his dream had come true.

A dust-covered Hitsuka slept quietly with the occasional twitch. A black mark was smeared across his face which caused Naruto to giggle lightly. With a quick look around him, he realised his apartment was sparklingly clean. With a warm bubbly feeling rose in him, he understood the reason behind the white-haired boy's dirty condition and a grin spread across his face. He boldly snuggled up to the other, laying his head down next to him. Hitsuka cracked an eye opened and shifted to wrap his arm around the blond child. The both fell asleep again in no time.

_The next day_

Hitsuka groggily woke up when he could no longer stand the blinding sunlight that had been torturing his eyes for the past hours. He blinked and looked the blond in his arms. 'How long have we been sleeping?' he wondered, surprised at how much Naruto can sleep.

The bed shifted under the boys.

'Why is the bed moving,' the white-haired boy thought. 'Is it an earthquake? Or is it just that the bed is…'

Before he even finished that thought, he had grabbed Naruto and rolled them off the bed. Just in time, too. The bed, a piece of junk really, had collapsed after a night of extra weight on it, sending out clouds of dust that settled upon the recently mopped floor. Hitsuka gasped for breath as Naruto had slammed right on top of him and ended up choking on the debris.

Naruto was safe and unharmed, and still sleeping. He hugged Hitsuka harder while murmuring, "Ramen-teddy-chan…"

Hitsuka sweat-dropped.

'I didn't know that Naruto already love ramen at the age of three,' he thought with a raised eye-brow. He lightly shook the blond child awake. "Wake up, Naruto."

Naruto rubbed his eyes and woke without stress this time. A smile lit up his face cutely. "You here! Still!"

Hitsuka smiled back at the baby speech and replied softly, "Yes indeed, I am still here." He tilted his head to one side as an idea began to form. "It is okay for me to live with you from now on? I hope you don't mind."

Surprise and excitement coloured Naruto's face red and he replied enthusiastically, "Yes! Please!" Then, suddenly shy, he jumped up and started to explore his now clean apartment, giggling softly all the way.

Hitsuka climbed tiredly up to his feet and stretched. Despite the good night sleep he had, his untrained and unused muscles hurt from the hours of labour. 'I can kind of understand what Iruka-sensei feels like now. Teaching brats that are always full of energy,' he thought.

He stumbled into the kitchen area, his movement and thoughts controlled by his stomach. Hearing the same protest from Naruto's – who blushed immediately – he laughed. Soon, two bowls of steaming instant ramen were served in front of the two boys and, after the recommended three minutes, they both attacked their meals eagerly. Hitsuka watched in horror as Naruto literally plunged into the bowl with a spoon, the pair of chopsticks lied useless next to him on the table.

'Table etiquette is definitely required,' he summarised, though he had somewhat expected it from a three-years-old. 'And we need more food other than instant food with enough preservatives to stop a body from rotting… Oh man… I sound like a mum.'

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

Wiping his hands on a towel to rid them of water, Hitsuka jumped off the chair that he had needed in order to do the dishes and dragged it to the door. He winced at the loud noises it had made but was physically too small to do anything about it. Peeking through the spy hole, he knuckled his eyes to make sure he was not seeing things.

'What in the- How-' he thought incoherently, unable to complete a full sentence even in his head. 'What is the Hokage doing here!?'

Realising he had kept the visitor waiting; he quickly manoeuvred the furniture out of the way and opened the door. Thankfully, he was just tall enough to achieve the action, thus he did not need to make a fool of himself, prancing around like a flea.

The Sandaime smiled down at the small boy, adding more lines to his already wrinkle-laden face. Admirably, it did not betray the shock he was feeling at the moment. Despite the fact he had heard the scrapes and the bangs from the other side of the door, which he had assumed correctly came from a chair, he was startled by the lack of the presence of the person that was moving the furniture. This surprise was further amplified when he recognised the person as the boy from yesterday.

The thought of a child barely over his knees both excited him and frightened his with his potentials.

During the time the leader took in studying – rather rudely really – the boy, Hitsuka had grown conscious of himself. 'Why is the old man staring at me like this? Is it because I am wearing nothing but a pair of boxers and T-shirt?' he wondered awkwardly, stopping himself from shutting the door on the man. 'It's not my fault! It was he who came so unexpectedly! Though perhaps I really should invite him in…'

"Hokage-sama," he started, licking his dried lips as he bought some time to gather more nerves. "Would you like to come in?"

'For a child to speak so clearly and politely! Who is he?' the Sandaime wondered and was determined to find out, for the safety of Naruto and his village.

"Yes, thank you very much," he replied with a firm nod of his head.

* * *

One more done! I am no longer at the stage of wanting my blood to travel in the opposite direction of what in usually recommended of my digestive system.

Once again, hope you will like the newer version. The others will follow… soon-ish.


	4. Am I Dreaming?

Disclaimer: Naruto is not owned by me. I am just a fan that is using its characters to write my own fiction.

Before I move on, incase you haven't figure it out; Hitsuka is a 16 year-old boy from our world. He had a brother and now he is in Naruto World, stuck in his three-year-old body.

Cheers!

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

* * *

Chapter 4 – Am I Dreaming?

"So what can I do for you… Hokage-sama?" Hitsuka asked formally, the grim look comically on his childish face. They had sat down around the dining table with the child needing an extra stool to be able to see over the furniture. Before them were two cups of steaming tea that Hitsuka had found in one of the cardboard, lying there forgotten and getting friendly with the dust bunnies.

The man looked at the boy, his eyes curious with a hint of caution. "May I have your name since you obviously know mine," he said, a warm smile on his lips to help the tense child relax.

Eyes wide, Hitsuka realised, despite his knowledge about the man before him, the same could not be said for the other. Placing his hands before him, he bowed deeply in respect and replied, "I apologize for my late introduction. My name is Yuki Hitsuka; it is an honour to meet you."

The Sandaime dipped his head in his greeting, pleasantly surprised. "I realize that you are still just a child but I am sure you can understand me perfectly. Thus, I know you can understand that I need to ask you several questions regarding you and your relationship with Naruto," he said, stating the purpose of his visit clearly and without underestimating Hitsuka. For all he knew, the boy in front of him could be an enemy in disguise, hoping to use Kyuubi through Naruto. "Please answer my questions truthfully."

The 'or else' threat hung heavily around the two.

Hitsuka gulped inaudibly; clearly nervous about the situation he was in. He himself still had no idea how and why he was here as he had only just arrived yesterday. Never less, he nodded. 'Since when do people take three-year-olds seriously?' he wondered in slight annoyance then suddenly realized it was probably his fault. After all, he had been behaving too mature for his appearance.

"Are you a citizen of Konohagakure?"

The child grimaced ever so lightly, a reaction the Sandaime did not fail to notice. "No…" he answered reluctantly, understanding the great leader already knew the truth but only wanted him to acknowledge it out loud.

"So which village do you belong to? Why are you here?"

'Why are you trying to get close to Naruto?' was the unasked question.

"I am not part of any village. And I honestly don't know why I am here though I have a pretty good idea," Hitsuka replied, the half-formed idea strengthening in his mind as his resolve firmed.

This perked up the Hokage's interest. "What is it, then?"

With a soft smile directed at the doodling boy on the floor next to him, he answered, "To take care of Naruto."

The Sandaime was slightly taken back by the answer. 'That was unexpected but seeing how well he took care of Naruto yesterday and how clean the apartment is… But there are things we still don't know about him. What to do… What to do…' he debated.

Perked up at the sound of his name, Naruto looked up hopefully at the white-haired boy. Hitsuka's smile widened and beckoned at him. That was all the invitation needed and he quickly clambered into the laps of the other, snuggling happily. His giggles quickly escalated to loud laughter as he was being tickled mercilessly.

Watching the scene before him, the Sandaime thought peacefully, 'So Naruto trusts Hitsuka completely while only meeting his yesterday. While children are said to be naïve but often they are the best in judging characters. Just one more question, perhaps Hitsuka can…'

He cleared his throat to get the boy's attention. "Hitsuka."

Stopping the attack, which had left Naruto gasping for breath, the said boy turned to face the old man. "Yes, Hokage-sama?"

"Where did you come from?"

That one innocent question nearly sent Hitsuka into hyperventilation mode. 'Crap, crap, crap… How can I tell him the truth when I don't even know what had happened to me! Crap times ten to the power of infinity…' Unable to come up with anything that would allow him to appear sane, he muttered, "Not anywhere near here!"

'Oh… I am so smart…'

A huge sweat-drop appeared on the Hokage's head as he wondered if his judgement of the white-haired boy was wrong. "Please answer my question… seriously."

With a heavy sigh, Hitsuka pushed his forefingers together repeatedly, much like what Hinata would do. "I am sorry but I cannot tell you right now as I still need to sort something out… But I can swear, even on my life, that I have no intention of bringing any harm to Konoha!"

Looking into the boy's large, gold eyes, the Hokage could see no lies and felt drawn to trust Hitsuka. It had been said that people's eyes were the windows to their soul, and the man could not see any evil in the boy's soul. Nodding his head, he replied, "Very well, we'll leave it there. Last question: will you take care of Naruto?" He looked sad for a moment. "That should have been my job but looks like I am not good at it."

Hitsuka answered without hesitation, "Of course! I will take care of Naruto and protect him from others."

Upon hearing this, Naruto cheered loudly, "Hitsuka look after me! Yay!"

The Hokage smiled as he watched the blond child hugging Hitsuka tightly while shouting in happiness. 'Hitsuka is too smart to be a normal three-year-old but I cannot sense any evilness in him,' he thought. 'May be he is just like another Hatake Kakashi, a genius.' Suddenly, an idea came to him and he voiced it after a mere moment of consideration, "Hitsuka, would you like to attend the Ninja Academy?"

Hitsuka froze, his eyes wide as he wondered if his ears were playing tricks on him. "Are you asking if I want to be a shinobi?" he asked uncertainly, wishing to make sure to avoid the bitter disappointment if it was not true.

The old man chuckled at the excited yet worried look on Hitsuka's face. "Yes, that would be correct," he assured.

"Even if I am a three-year-old?"

"Yes, in fact, I know a boy who passed the genin exam at the age of-"

"Five, one Hatake Kakashi," Hitsuka finished and smiled at the shocked face of the great leader. "He is very famous."

Somewhat reluctantly acknowledging the answer, the Sandaime never less filed this information away for further prodding at a later date. "So what is your answer?"

"Yes! It would be an honour to become a shinobi of Konoha!" Hitsuka quickly answered, but soon his happy face was clouded with worry. "What about Naruto? I can't leave him by himself while I am at the Academy!"

"Don't worry," the Sandaime replied with a wave of his hand. "You can take him to the Academy with you, but Naruto."

"Yes!" the said boy squeaked, shocked at being addressed by the leader of Konoha so suddenly.

"You have to do what Hitsuka tells you to do and not bring any trouble to him, so he can study and take care of you at the same. Will you do that?" the Sandaime asked sternly.

"Yes I will. I want be with Hitsuka!" Naruto answered with a serious face.

A smile broke on the old man's face and he said kingly, "Good boy. So Hitsuka, I will register you with the Academy and will tell you the details later today."

"Thank you, thank you so much," said a breathless Hitsuka, who couldn't believe his luck and how fast things were moving.

"Then I shall take my leave now." The Hokage stood up and walked towards the door. The two children trailed after, happy and excited at how the day has turned out. The old man paused with one hand on the door and he turned to look down at Hitsuka. "One last thing," he held his hand out, "congratulations on becoming a citizen of Konohagakure."

* * *

For those who had re-read this fanfiction because:

1. The author has taken too long to update and the poor reader had forgotten the plot.

2. This fanfiction actually tickled your fancy and you felt like reading the whole thing again.

3. There was nothing better to do.

Please review (if you like) to tell me if my rewritten version is better or worse. I am really hoping its better.

For those who are reading this for the first time, please review. I would love to hear your opinions as they are very valuable to me.

Thank you!


	5. Ninja Academy’s Day Care Centre

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone that appears in the Naruto World though I wish I do. I do, however, own Yuki Hitsuka.

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

* * *

Chapter five – Ninja Academy's Day Care Centre

The night before Hitsuka was to start his education at the Ninja Academy, he could be seen alone in the smallest room of the apartment in front of a black device.

Naruto and Hitsuka's apartment now looked significantly different. Though it was still small, it had a homey feeling to it. A new, larger bed was in place of the old one with a treasure chest at the end. A large desk and a wide, tall bookshelf were placed in the study. New, sturdy furniture swiftly replaced the old ones, even a TV had appeared in the common area. Those were the 'presents' given by the Hokage for welcoming Hitsuka as a new citizen.

Though the white-haired boy felt slightly bitter at the drastic change in the apartment, showing just how neglected Naruto had been before he had came along. Breathing out a sigh, he tried to place himself in the great leader's shoes and realised just how busy man was. And there was always the whole 'special treatment' argument that the villagers could bring up.

Even in the supposedly made-up world that Hitsuka was in, it was still full of unfairness and evilness.

Shaking his head lightly as if that action alone could rid of the depressing thoughts, Hitsuka poked his head out to check on Naruto who was tucked into the bed and was in a deep sleep. With a smile, he turned back to the desk and started typing on his laptop.

Yes, despite the fact that laptops were not yet invented in this world, Hitsuka's own had made the journey across with him. He was both surprised and ecstatic to find it in his bag, even more so when he found it to be connected to the internet. How the heck that worked was beyond his knowledge so he did not even try to question it.

His mind quickly worked out, with his treasure, he could use it to keep up to date with what was happening in the manga by downloading the newest chapter. He silently cheered as he clicked away, organising the previous chapters while setting passwords, making sure that no one could get to the information. He had to be careful, after all, he now had the advantage of knowing one possible future and he couldn't let that information fell into wrong hands.

After his victory dance, he sat calmly down, going back to writing a timeline. Things such as at the age of twelve, Naruto and co. would pass the genin exam and Kakashi would be Team 7's sensei. Haku and Zabuza would be at the Wave Country. The chuunin exam, Forest of Death, Neji's fight with Naruto, the whole destiny thing… This thought made him paused.

'Hmm… Hyuuga Hinata is the same age as Naruto who is three right now…' he thought, tapping his pen on the table in a random rhythm. 'So that would mean Hyuuga Neji is four and the curse seal…' Leaping to his feet, be began frantically searching for a calendar, knowing he had seen one the day before when he was tiding the house up. Looking everywhere and anywhere, he had finally found it… right above the desk he was sitting in before.

Sighing deeply at his stupidity, he messaged his brows. 'Maybe I should calm down and look more carefully next time,' he scolded himself, sitting back down. 'Oh well, at least I can check for the date now. I seriously don't want Neji's father, Hyuuga Hiashi, to die because Neji will turn into a huge pain in the arse in the future. Besides, I kind of like the guy, as long as he's not angst and all that all the time. I just hope I am not too late.'

Making a mark on the calendar on today's date, he ran his cursor down the list of characters' birthdays and found what he was looking for. 'So… today's the 22nd and Hinata's birthday is on the 27th of December. That's means I still have plenty of time to prepare for everything… Though I really need to be careful so my secrets won't get discovered… All of these thoughts are making my head spin!'

_The next day, at the Ninja Academy_

The 16-year-old Umino Iruka, one of the newly promoted chuunin that year, was definitely not having a good so far. He had been nominated to be the new teacher of the Ninja Academy due to his passion and skills in teaching others, so, naturally, he had accepted. Now, so fresh-faced, he wondered if he had lost a screw or more in his head when he signed the papers of employment.

He had been standing in front of the classroom, shouting "PLEASE BE QUIET!" for the 24th time. Still, there was no indication of doing the asked action from the classroom-full of noisy children. 'First day, my first day as a teacher and I just had to be appointed to take the youngest class of the Ninja Academy,' he groaned, palming his face tiredly. 'Why can't I be appointed to an older class where I can get more experience? Why can't I get them to shut up to listen to me!?'

Iruka was close to tears and had the urge to tear his hair out by the handfuls, when the classroom door slid open with a small hiss. Every single heard in the room turned towards the entrance, curious as to who could be visiting. Iruka grumbled beneath his breath, "They heard that small hiss, so how the hell did they not hear my yells…"

Standing by the door was a white-haired boy dressed in a moss green, knee-length kimono that was common for small children. He was obviously at least three years younger than the other children in the room yet he seemed confident in his strides as he walked towards the teenager. That was then Iruka noticed the other boy who had previously hidden behind the other.

'The Kyuubi container!' he thought in surprise, his eyebrows rose slightly. He didn't know the boy well and, although Kyuubi had killed both of his parents, he held no grudge against Naruto anymore. After seeing how the general public had treated him, he had realised with a start that the boy was not the Kyuubi itself, but merely the container.

"Iruka-sensei?" the white-haired boy asked, looking up into the teen's face.

"Ah, yes, that's me," Iruka quickly said, pulling his attention back on to this boy. "I apologise for spacing out. How can I help you?"

A small smile appeared on the boy's face as replied, "I will be joining this class from now on. Naruto here," he nudged the boy forward, "whom I am sure you know, will be with me the whole time but will not be participating. Wait… Give me a second…" He fished around his backpack. "Here we go. Here's a scroll for you from Hokage-sama."

Iruka openly started at the young boy – he knew it was rude but couldn't help it – as Hitsuka talked. He numbly received the scroll and hurried to open it, his hopes high as he wished Hokage-sama would be able to explain everything to him in the scroll. But, sadly, the scroll did not contain a lot of information despite its length.

_Umino Iruka-kun,_

_Please teach the boy who just gave you this scroll. Teach him well. _

_Sandaime_

Three lines. Just tree lines.

'_Teach him well._ Oh, all things that are holiness… Why on my first day!' the teen thought in deep despair. But he couldn't give up now, he still had a class to teach. He turned to the boy with a stiff smile on his face. "I understand," he half-lied. "Can you please introduce yourself to the class? Then you can sit down so we can start the lesson."

"Very well," Hitsuka replied and looked at his future classmates with a grin. All eyes trained on him. My name is Yuki Hitsuka and this is Uzumaki Naruto. As you can see, I am only a three-year-old. Obviously some crazy old geezer decided to put me in here with you when I am still supposed to be at the nursery." Laughter rang out from the students and Iruka couldn't help but chuckled a bit. The atmosphere immediately lightened up. The so-called old geezer in the Hokage tower coughed in front of his glass sphere.

Glancing around the room looking for a free sit, Hitsuka could believe how lucky he was when he saw the most perfect place. "Iruka-sensei, may I please sit there by the window?" he asked, pointing.

"Of course!" Iruka replied and quickly went on once the child was seated, "Right class, today we are learning about chakra…"

* * *

Done with another chapter, yay!

Please review. Ask me any question; I will answer them as best as I can. Anything is welcome. Thanks!


	6. They Just Kept On Coming

Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto Masashi who is great at what he does. I own nothing of it and I wish I do.

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

* * *

Chapter six – They Just Kept On Coming

It had been week since Hitsuka had started learning at the Academy. Everything was going quite well for the boy. The things that were taught were rather easy: how chakra worked, the history of Konoha, ninja's weapons and such. Hitsuka already knew these subjects quite well by reading the manga, Naruto, for so many times. But some were still new thus keeping his interests.

Every day for that week, Naruto would either play quietly next to Hitsuka or do the simple tasks that were set for him. Tasks like learning the numbers, how to write, mathematics, just the basics. Sometimes he would go out and play in the playground own by the Academy. That was the sole reason why Hitsuka had chosen that particular seat beside the window so he could check on the blond child from time to time.

It was Sunday today and the white-haired boy had decided to take Naruto out for some fun. Rubbing his eyes as he had gotten out of the bed early in the morning, he made his way to the kitchen and started preparing for the day. Mindful of keeping the noise to the minimum in hope he would not wake the other up, he was able to have a peaceful morning to himself while getting everything done.

"Naruto, wake up now!" he called out, drying his hands as he walked towards the bed.

"Mor-" Naruto yawned before finishing, "-ning, Hitsuka."

"Hurry up and get dress! We are going to the park!" he chirped, playfully throwing the boy out of the bed and pulled the duvet into place at the same time.

"Park? Why?" the blond child mumbled, his voice thick with sleep, though his body actions were smooth as he went through his morning routine.

"We are having a picnic!" Hitsuka grinned from ear to ear as he watched Naruto's eyes widened to the max. Just as he had suspected, Naruto had never been on a picnic before while knowing the meaning behind that noun.

Suddenly a yellow and orange blur streaked past Hitsuka which soon stopped by the door, impatiently crying out, "Hurry! Picnic! I want a picnic!"

The white-haired boy, mouth gapping in shock, could only stare at the fully clothed Naruto for a few moments. Blinking his eyes, he chuckled. 'So Naruto can be fast with the right stimuli…' he thought in amusement, knowing that would be a useful knowledge in the future. "All right! Let's go!"

The cheerful duo had soon arrived at one of the numerous parks in Konoha with this one specifically chosen for its low rank in popularity. While Hitsuka had hoped for Naruto to have friends other than himself, he was realistic enough to know that it would probably be futile until the children had reached the rebellious age. Right now, he was just happy that he had taken the precautions to avoid anything that could ruin their day out.

With a squeal, Naruto had immediately abandoned his half of the picnic basket and ran to the empty playground, aiming for the slide. The other had followed at a slower pace and stopped at the picnic table to deposit his burden. He checked the clock in the middle of the park to found it was barely ten o'clock, giving them plenty of time to enjoy themselves.

"Hitsuka! Hitsuka!"

"Yeah?" The said boy turned towards the voice and found Naruto sitting on the swing, looking at him with expecting yet shy eyes.

"Please?" Naruto asked.

'Urgh! Not the I-am-a-cute-puppy-in-the-rain look!' Hitsuka mentally groaned, quickly caving in. "Of course," he replied with a sigh as the child cheered happily. Honestly, he would agreed to almost anything Naruto asked of him, finding the small blond too cute to resist and he was on the path to become a pampering parent. Though he could say this whole idiotic parent thing was he older brother's fault.

Hitsuka had always been taken care of by his older brother by twelve years ever since the death of their parents. He was only six and his brother was barely out of high school with a bright future – that was, if he didn't have a kid brother to look after. He could have just leave Hitsuka to the social service when no relatives offered their care. He could have gone to university for a higher education like most other teenagers. Instead, he had stayed, looking after his only family. Working during the day and studying at night, he had managed to provide Hitsuka with the best things he could get, spoiling the child. Understanding just how lucky he was, Hitsuka had looked up to him and wished that one day he could have someone he could look after. Just like his big brother.

This was probably the reason that he was able to accept the responsibility of taking care of Naruto so fast.

'I wonder if I should be glad that he is dead now…' Hitsuka thought grimly, his face set in a happy expression for the sake of the other. While he was the youngest of the family, he had managed to even outlive his brother at a tender age of twelve – his brother had died during an attempted assassination of some famous guy. The assassin had been apprehended and was sentenced while the unnamed celebrity had compensated in the form of money that would last Hitsuka right through college. Never less, justice and money were the things he would trade for his brother in a heartbeat. 'But this means that no one is waiting for me back in my world – whether this is a dream or not.'

"Hitsuka?" A small hand tentatively touched his face, jolting him out of his thoughts to see Naruto staring worryingly at him. "Are you okay?" he asked softly, looking as if he himself was closed to tears.

Mentally slapping himself for forgetting how easily children's emotions were influenced by the others, he smiled, touched by the child's concern. He drew Naruto into a hug and whispered reassuringly, "Yes, I am fine now."

'Nii-chan, I am not alone anymore.'

They played enthusiastically until noon, at which Hitsuka had left to prepare their lunch, allowing Naruto to stay until the food was ready. Laying the food out, he silently congratulated himself at just how far he had came in terms of cooking. While he had learnt how to cook since his brother had deemed it safe for him to use fire, it was still really different in a three-year-old body. Of course the Hokage had offered to change Naruto's previous caregiver to someone without grudges, but Hitsuka had asked him to just fire the woman he secretly called an incompetent fool.

Unknown to the two boys, the Hokage had still checked on them from time to time, worried that Hitsuka may not be able to care for them both. After the initial shocks, the old man had only recently stopped his crystal ball stalking and had decided to trust the boy fully.

Hitsuka had never found out why his sudden bouts of goose bumps – despite the perfectly warm weather – had stopped as suddenly as they had started.

"Hitsuka!" Naruto yelled, running loudly towards the other.

Greeting him with a smile, Hitsuka frowned lightly in confusion at the other person who was following Naruto. 'Who is this? When did he get here?' Upon closer inspection, he would have taken a step back in surprise if he was not currently kneeling on the bench. 'HYUUGA NEJI!? What the heck is Naruto doing with Hyuuga Neji?'

"Hitsuka! I made a friend!" Naruto gushed happily, his face rosy from more than just the run. "Can he please have picnic, too?"

Still in the state of shock, Hitsuka could only manage to nod dumbly but did not have enough self control to stop staring. 'Okay… So basically, Neji is still a nice kid before the whole curse seal thing. So I guess that's why he still have the ability of making friends now,' he analysed, firming his jaw muscles lest his lips weren't enough to stop the lower half of his from dropping. 'Well, this makes things easier for me, I guess…'

He watched Neji and marvelled at how different this boy was to the one he had imagined. While still clad in the dull, black kimono, his innocent, naïve smile at something Naruto had said significantly brightened up his face, and putting one on Hitsuka's own. "Well, what are you waiting for?" he asked rhetorically with a clap of his hands. "Let's eat!"

Naruto dove straight into the food while the other two boys used chopsticks at a modest pace. Making a note to teach the blond on how to introduce people, Hitsuka waited until Neji swallowed before sticking out his hand. "My name's Yuki Hitsuka. What's yours?" he asked as if he didn't know already.

The pupil-less boy quickly placed his eating utensils down and shook the hand. "Hyuuga Neji, please to meet you." He waved his hand over the table. "Thank you for the food, it's very nice."

Hitsuka brightened at this. "Thanks! I am glad you like my cooking."

The lunch continued with more chit chats and the three boys became fast friends. At one point, Neji had revealed that it was Naruto's bright personality that had intrigued him and caused him to approach to the blond. This had surprised Hitsuka as he had assumed the friendship had started the other way round.

Once they were finished, Naruto was hopping about, yanking on Neji's arm as he shouted for a game of tag. Uncertain, the polite brunet looked slightly torn until Hitsuka told him it was fine and he would do the clean up.

Finished, Hitsuka watched the two playing, happy to stay out of the game in favour of some alone time sitting on the grass. He sighed happily. 'Just look at those two play… I never thought it would be Neji who take the initiative. But I guess I can understand, there's something about Naruto that just… draws you in.' Leaning back on his arms, he turned his gaze on to the blue sky overhead, his eyes squinting due to the glaring sun but never less enjoying its warmth. 'What should I do now?' he wondered. 'I can probably stop Hyuuga Hizashi from getting killed but I don't think I can stop the curse seal from being carved on to Neji's forehead. Unless I want at least half of the Hyuuga clan after my ass for trying to change their tradition despite its inhumanity and cruelty. Ow… major headache coming…'

While still planning, a shadow fell across him as a voice spoke up, "Thank you for looking after my son."

Pushing himself into a crouching position, Hitsuka plunged a hand into his pocket for a weapon, his chest tight with the sudden surge of adrenaline as his heart hammered painfully against it. Once he recognized who it was, he blurted out, "Hyu-Hyuuga… san?"

Hyuuga Hizashi frowned slightly which was hidden beneath his forehead protector. He did not expect such a reaction from a child so young. While he could understand he had startled the boy, but the way he had leapt up and his hand instantly went to his pocket for something – presumably a weapon – was not something normal. 'And he knows not only my name but also used the proper title, too,' he noted, not at all bitter by the fact that people called his twin brother with the more respectful 'Hyuuga-sama'. 'I agree with Hokage-sama, there's something about this boy.'

They stared at each other in tense silence until Hitsuka awkwardly broke it, "Ah… err… What did you mean?" Raising an eyebrow, Hizashi hid a smile at how flustered the boy was as he elaborated his question by this prompting, "About taking care of Neji-san."

Softening his eyes, the man lowered himself down so he was no longer an imposing figure and replied, "I saw your little picnic together, it was very nice of you to invite him to join." What he didn't say was how he had stayed hidden to watch them.

Hitsuka had quickly come to that realisation but feigned ignorance, knowing he had showed far too much with him blurting out the man's name so unthinkingly. "It was no problem, we had enough for everyone. Besides, it's nice for Naruto to make a new friend."

Silence settled around them once again, long and awkward. Hitsuka curled and relaxed his toes repeatedly, a hidden sign of anxiety. 'What's with the Hyuuga family today? Kept popping up to scare me!' he thought and pouted his lips slightly. He took a quick glance sideway and hid his face when that was noticed. 'Crap…'

"So…" Hizashi started with full intention of finding out more about the boy whose palms were currently sweating bullets.

"Hitsuka!"

The boy's face relaxed into a smile. 'Ah… saved by Naruto.'

"Hitsuka!" Naruto yelled again, running towards his friend. "Can I come back? Tomorrow? I want play with Neji-nii-san!"

"May I?" Neji asked his father as well, his face hopeful.

The two guardians smiled at each other and replied that they could return tomorrow morning for more fun. Hitsuka quickly took this chance and told Naruto that it was time to go home. Bidding their goodbyes, the two boys left the park with Hitsuka having had to force himself to walk slower at a normal pace. Hizashi watched them go, his curiosity unsatisfied. 'I'll need to speak to Hokage-sama about this,' he thought with a firm nod.

Hitsuka sighed, relieved yet concerned about the near escape. He knew it was just a matter of time before people knew and tried to get him to talk. Right now, he could not allow that to happen. Not when he had someone that needed him.

* * *

So… I wonder if this version is better than the last. If you are feeling like it, please review and tell me how I am doing with the rewriting.

I have emphasised several things about Hitsuka in an attempt to reduce any feelings of Gary-Stue. I would like the readers to understand that I have no intention of making Hitsuka a perfect OC as those are often boring and tedious to read. Though, unfortunately, being the idiotic 'parent', I may have made him too perfect. Don't worry, I will work hard to mend this problem.

Cheers!


	7. I’ll Freaking Neuter Him!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and the people of his world. The only character I do own is Yuki Hitsuka.

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

* * *

Chapter seven – "I'll Freaking Neuter Him!"

Hitsuka soon had set up a routine as his days at the Academy accumulated to become weeks. He would study during the weekdays and spend time with Naruto on the weekend. Sometimes the blond child would visit Neji and play under the watchful eyes of Hizashi. Though he seemed to prefer to accompany Hitsuka in his classes, despite not understanding the things Iruka was spouting off.

It was Thursday and it had been a long, boring week as Hizashi was away on mission and could not watch over the two boys. So, while he was glad to be with Hitsuka, he was bored to tears in the third session of Iruka ten sessions of Konohagakure: The History.

Glancing sideways, Hitsuka hid a smile behind his hand when he saw how Naruto had planted his face on the desk. "Are you bored?" he whispered and got a shy nod in return. "Don't worry, me too." Honestly, neither boy was interested in some dudes that died decades ago, even if they were the founders of Konoha. Scratching the tip of his nose, an idea popped up. With a grin, he decided it was high time to introduce his innocent little brother to the fine world of pranksters.

Naruto watched with shiny eyes as Hitsuka slowly pulled something out from his bag. No big movements, just in case Iruka decided to take a break from his monologue. He finally showed his prize under the desk and the blond child was slightly disappointed to find a plain looking white ball on Hitsuka's palm. Still grinning, the white-haired boy skilfully tossed it neatly over the other students' heads. With a soft tap, it had perfectly found its mark: the teacher's table, next to the apple.

A chain reaction instantly went off, starting with a spectacular loud _bang!_ Immediately following that were waves of choking green smoke – testified by Iruka's hacking coughs. Few students screamed in fright due to the sudden loud noise, some woke from their nap, and a small number looked alert and was looking for the source.

Iruka frowned deeply as the smoke thickened to the point of obscuring one's vision. He was unsure as to whether this was an attack on the Academy and if his students were in immediate danger, or merely something as simple as a broken overhead pipe. Panicking voices rose louder and louder, and he was quick to reassure the children, only to find his voice impossibly high and squeaky. Everyone else seemed to be experiencing the same phenomenon.

Unlike the pink smoke, its green counterpart was quick to fade and everyone was able to see again. Perhaps they might hope they couldn't. They were covered from head to toe in various shades of colour – from the bright neon yellow down to the grim, solemn black. Unfortunately, the squeaking persisted.

Other teachers came to investigate the source of the ruckus and were shocked to find another breed of Smurfs. Medical helps were sought though the cause of the bright skin and high voice was not found, and the only idea was to send the victims home early.

Squeaking laughter could be heard loud and clear from the bathroom of the apartment shared by Naruto and Hitsuka.

The next day, everything was back to normal, a fact Iruka was thankful of. Not only did he wish to continue with his lessons, he did not want to be reminded of the year his puberty started. Unfortunately, his hopes were short-lived as the entire class had to go home again, this time with interesting lime green hair and, much to the dismay of the girls and the ecstasy of the boys, matching beard. It was Naruto who had pulled the prank this time, with of course, some help from Hitsuka

So, from then on, either Hitsuka or Naruto would occasionally pull a prank. Iruka was not sure whether he should die from frustration or laughter. He had even kept a notebook with records of what kind of pranks and who was the assailant. He also tested his skills by trying to prevent these pranks. Keyword: trying, as he had yet to be triumphant with a success.

While creating havoc at school, Hitsuka was still a good student by constantly visiting the library for extra curriculum on basic ninjutsu. He understood everything and memorised and the hand seals. But no matter how hard he tried, he could not even achieve a Henge or Kawarimi! He couldn't understand why nor what was wrong with him.

'May be I am like Rock Lee,' he thought in horror. 'Does that mean I can only do taijutsu!? No! Bad mental image of me in a green spandex and orange leg warmers!'

He was almost convinced that he did not have chakra. With a tired sigh, he kneaded his forehead. 'Perhaps I need some kind of shock therapy or a fight to draw my chakra out…'

He didn't know how right he was and later, when all had ended, he had loathed himself for thinking that.

The day it happened was normal like every other school day. Hitsuka had allowed Naruto to play in the Academy playground as he was busy with a test set by Iruka. He was so concentrated that he did not notice a stranger walking towards his brother.

'Question 16: How does chakra work? Explain in three simple sentences,' he read while biting the end of his pencil. 'Well…'

A violent shiver overtook him, hard enough for him to drop his writing tool. He did not hear it rolled across the table nor when it clattered noisily as it fell to the ground. His entire attention was fixed on the empty playground, his mind taking him back to the moment his brother was shot. Without a reply to Iruka's concerned enquiries, he was out of the window and after a running figure.

The kidnapper was a man with no ninja training and was therefore slow in his escape, especially with a struggling burden. Never less, a race between a full-grown man and a three-year-old, the outcome was obvious. Especially since the man already had a head start.

Panic, worry, anger… a huge range of emotions filled Hitsuka, making his breathes rhythm irregular and laboured. All he could think about was Naruto and what could happen if he lost sight. 'That's not going to happen!'

Something clicked audibly. Like a switch.

Power flooded right through Hitsuka, filling him. He did not pause to dwell on it, instead pushed it to his legs, hoping he could run faster. In his state of panic, he didn't notice how suddenly the man he was chasing came to be facing him. Leaping up so he was face-to-face with the shocked kidnapper, he punched him squarely in the face with all his newfound power. But it was not enough as the man only reeled back in pain, blood streaming out from his broken nose. Though, luckily, he did drop Naruto as both of his hands reflexively went to his face. Hitsuka caught the crying child and landed with a thump. He quickly shuffled back when the man recovered and took a swing at the duo.

"Give meh da demon brat!" he growled, his speech funny with his broken nose.

"Never!" the white-haired boy replied bravely. A crowd began to gather, circling the three while cutting off any escape route. While some of them looked nervous and worried, none of them stepped forward to help. Others encouraged loudly, egging the grinning kidnapper on.

Waving at his adoring fans, the man glanced cockily at the children. "I'll jus' kill you along wis da brat. No un would care 'bout a demon-lover!" With that, he started to punch and kick.

Hitsuka shielded Naruto with his body to the best of his ability and took the blunt force of the attack. He tried to fend off the meaty fists and feet but he couldn't do much while trying not to get Naruto hurt. The blond child had long since stopped crying and was clutching tightly onto Hitsuka's top. With effort and hoping with all his might, Hitsuka formed the necessary hand seals and whispered, "Kawarimi no jutsu."

'It worked,' he thought in a daze as he now watched a random villager getting assaulted by the kidnapper. 'Thank goodness…'

"Hitsuka!"

The said boy raised his head and saw Iruka running towards him. "Iruka-sensei…" he murmured before falling unconscious into his teacher's protective arms.

"I am so sorry," Iruka whispered, holding the two boys tightly to himself while watching a team of ninja arresting the fleeing people.

_Later that day, in Konoha hospital_

Hitsuka blinked as the sound of people talking woke him, "We'll just have to wait until he's up."

"I am awake," the boy said softly. As soon as he had said that, someone lively jumped onto his bed and hugged him tightly.

"Hitsuka!" Naruto cried out, tears streaming down his face.

Hitsuka grimaced over the blond head when Naruto pressed on a particular bad bruise but was silent, he did not want the other child to know how badly in shape he was. "Hi Naruto, Hokage-sama, Iruka-sensei," he said with a smile. Iruka came forward to help him sit up as Naruto quickly scrambled down and contented himself in holding onto Hitsuka's hand. "Where am I?"

"You are in Konoha Hospital," the Sandaime answered, sitting down on the chair beside the bed. "How are you feeling?" A shrug was his reply. "Very well, can you please tell me what happened?"

Hitsuka frowned in confusion for a second before his memory flooded back. "Naruto! Are you hurt? Did that man hurt you? Oh wait 'til I get my hands on him! I'll rip his arms off and beat him unconscious with them! I'll- I'll freaking neuter him so he's incompetent for the rest of his short life as I am so going to strangle him with-"

The Hokage coughed to cut him off his rant. Iruka first paled then blushed. Naruto giggled – even though he didn't understand most of what Hitsuka was on about – and replied, "No worry, Hitsuka. I am fine."

With a sigh of relief, Hitsuka jumped into his account of what had happened, prompted by his leader's raised eyebrow. Once he was finished, he began doing his own check on Naruto, leaving the Sandaime with his own thoughts. With his heart plummeting downwards, he discovered a nasty, huge bruise on the boy's back. He was so angry with himself for getting Naruto hurt that tears of frustration and shame slid down his own bruised cheeks. He drew the child into a hug and continuously apologising, blaming himself.

Naruto had also started crying, understanding the reason behind those tears. He also blamed himself, for making Hitsuka having the need to come to save him and got hurt, and for Hitsuka's guilt. He was ashamed that he was not strong enough to fend off his kidnapper, even though he was only a child.

They cried together as they both each made a vow.

Hitsuka swore to himself that he would get strong and protect the ones he loved, especially Naruto, no matter what.

Naruto vowed that he would also get strong so he would not need to be save, instead he would save the ones he loved, Hitsuka, no matter what.

Determination shone in their eyes as the bond between them grew stronger and stronger.

Both the Hokage and Iruka had silently left the room, leaving the two children alone to themselves. Each man was angry at themselves, for allowing the two boys to feel that way when they should be blissfully unaware of the dangers around them. They, too, resolved to change things, starting with the man that needed to be sentenced for his crime.

A day after the attack on Naruto, a man was sentenced to Konoha Jail. The villagers who were presented at the attack were given a warning and a fine each.

* * *

Like I said before, I believe this is a sad chapter. I tried to bring it up to the next level in terms of conveying the feelings of the two main characters, though perhaps more work still need to be done. May be I will do another rewrite in, like, five years time.

Please review!


	8. Chapter 8

Sorry for not updating for such a long time. I am kind of running out of ideas. I honestly have no idea how hard writing a fanfic is. Sometimes I just want to stop writing and delete the fanfic from the Internet but my writer's side won't let me do that. I don't know what to write now so after the disclaimer and thanking all the people who reviewed, I'll let you get on with the fanfic.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto because someone else owns it. I do own Yuki Hitsuka so get your hands off him!

_Dragon Man 180: The suggestion of Hitsuka-pulling-pants-down-so-he-can-save-Hinata is a great idea. I might use it and I might not. I don't know… _

_ranma hibiki: Yeah I agree with the moron part. Yes, Hitsuka and Naruto will work and no you can't have the recipe to the gas ball because they are my pride and joy._

_Night-Owl123: Err sorry for not updating until now. Yeah…_

_koolanimafreek: Thank you for your support (sob). No Hizashi won't die._

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

* * *

Chapter eight

Because of the horrifying experience that Naruto and Hitsuka had been through, and due to their vows, they both started to train and study hard. For Hitsuka, he listened carefully to what Iruka said during the class, asked questions if he couldn't understand, got extra books from the Konoha library, and practiced jutsu for he had found his chakra. He even did some physical trainings!

As for Naruto, he did the physical training with Hitsuka but he couldn't learn with him during Iruka's class because (1) His young mind was not yet mature enough, (2) His vocabulary was limited, and (3) He couldn't read. Son during the class time, he concentrated on the tasks set by Hitsuka. Slowly, but surely, he was able to read and speak more clearly. Hitsuka was very pleased with Naruto's improvement.

'Time flies,' Hitsuka thought, looking at the calendar (he remembered where it was this time). 'I have been here for more than one month and I have done so many things!' And he was quite right. He had saved Naruto and gained his trust, became a citizen of Konoha, befriended Neji, discovered his chakra while saving Naruto, again. All in less than two months

Right now, he stared at a place that said October 10th on the calendar. 'I am quite sure I am forgetting something,' he thought in confusion. 'Something rather important is happening that day. I better remember soon, today is the 8th!' He stood up, told Naruto that he was going shopping. Naruto didn't respond as he was too absorbed on his work, which just happened to be… the evil monster… MATHS!

"2 plus 3 equals 5. Stupid math. 7 plus 8… equals 15. Stupid, stupid math." Hitsuka chuckled at what Naruto was muttering under his breath and locked the door behind him.

He soon arrived at the supermarket, wanting to buy some fresh food. He got a basket and went walking around the place. 'Chicken, chicken, where the hell is the freakin' chicken section. Ah here we are, right in… front of me. Why do I always do that? Can't find something that is already in front of …'

"In two days it'll be the big celebration!" a woman told her companion, all excited.

"I know," her companion, another woman, replied. "It's the 3rd anniversary of the defeat of the demon Kyuubi! They are setting up a big fair in the…"

Hitsuka tuned them out. 'So in two days, the 10th of October, the day Kyuubi got defeated,' he thought. 'Kyuubi was sealed inside a new-born baby, so…' Realization dawned on him. 'It's Naruto's third birthday! I have forgotten all about that. I thought he had already turned three. I must arrange something for Naruto. Yes I will…'

_Two days later_

Naruto was not happy. 'Hitsuka's hiding something from me,' he pouted as he thought. For the last two days, Hitsuka had been very secretive and often went out, claiming he going for a walk and no, Naruto couldn't come because he was going for a walk on the road of life and he might get lost so he'll be late in coming home. A lot of craps if you asked Naruto.

That morning, Hokage had come to take Naruto away for a 'medical check-up'. Naruto had asked for Hitsuka to come with him but the Hokage said no. So Naruto had been sulking for half a day.

Right now, he was taken home by the Hokage. "Why, why, why is Hitsuka ignoring me? Did I do something? I can't think of anything. So why?" Naruto grumbled and kept on asking himself the same questions. They soon arrived at the apartment and Naruto walked through the door after the Hokage.

"Hitsuka?" Naruto looked around, looking for the said boy. Silent. Then suddenly…

"Surprise!" many voices yelled out, startling Naruto.

"What…" Naruto looked around him, confusion showed clearly on his face. "What is going on?"

"Today is you birthday, Naruto," Hitsuka said, stepping forward. "So I decided to give you a surprise party," he looked nervous. "Do… eh um… do you like it?"

Hitsuka was knocked head over heels by Naruto, who had tears in eyes and was shouting, "Like it? I love it! Oh thank you thank you thank you etc. No one has ever done this for me." From his position on the floor, Naruto looked at who was invited. "Neji-nii-san, Iruka-sensei, Hokage-sama and Hyuuga-san! Thank you very much," he said in a slight trembling voice.

"Don't thank us," Iruka said, pulling Naruto up from the top of Hitsuka.

"Yeah, thank Hitsuka," said Neji as he helped Hitsuka up.

"He had been very busy to arrange everything by himself for you, Naruto. He is a great friend and brother." Hizashi smiled at a now blushing Hitsuka.

Naruto sniffed and pulled Hitsuka into a bone-crushing hug. "Thank you," he whispered. He never felt so happy. He finally had great friends and he was no longer alone. He felt a pair of arms around him, hugging him back.

"You are welcome," Hitsuka said softly. The other people in the room looked at the pair with a soft smile on their face. It was all very nice and such a memorable moment when suddenly…

GRUMBLE!

"Heh, heh," Naruto laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his head and patted his stomach. "Well, um… can we eat?" Everyone in the room except Naruto had a huge sweat-drop rolling off from their head.

Naruto had received his first lot of birthday presents that day. From Neji, he got a drawing pad and a box of crayons ("I'll give you the first drawing, Neji-nii-san!"). From Iruka, he got some easy reading books to practice his reading skills (Err… gee thanks, I guess."). From Hizashi, he got a fox soft toy ("Oh it's so cute!" plus a glare from Hitsuka which the Hokage noticed). From the Hokage, he got a ball ("Right! Let's go and play with this ball later!"). Lastly, from Hitsuka, he got a set of practice kunai. He also said something which Naruto would remember for the rest of his life.

"Naruto, grow up and be a good man. Be a skill shinobi and protect those you love. Use your head but also use your heart. Don't become a part of evilness because you are so pure and innocent. Never give up. Live."

It was a month after Naruto's birthday when Hitsuka had his first meeting with Hyuuga Hiashi. That day, the boys were practicing their kunai skill. Both try to get the bull's eye on the target but the kunai they threw were rather… off target.

'I have the brain but I don't have the body,' Hitsuka thought darkly as he watched his kunai landed a few meters away from the target. But soon, both boys managed to hit the target six times out of ten times. They collected their weapons and started to walk home.

"I'll run home first, Hitsuka!" Naruto yelled over his shoulder as he ran on his short legs.

'How can he still have so much energy?!' Hitsuka thought wearily. 'I feel tired by looking at him.'

He looked up and watched leaves falling off from their tree branches. "It's autumn already…" he murmured softly. 'I have been here for quite awhile. This is still like a dream for me, but everything feels so real!' Suddenly, he tripped over something, and although his reflex should be quick enough to do flip and land safely, he was too tired that day he couldn't do anything as the ground came closer and closer.

He waited for the painful impact but… it never came. Slowly he opened his eyes and looked at the person in front of him who had an arm on his shoulder, steadying him. "Thank you, Hyuuga-san… No, you are Hyuuga-sama." Hitsuka corrected his mistake.

Yes, Hyuuga Hiashi was standing right in front of Hitsuka. His face was emotionless but he was very intrigued in this boy. 'He could tell that I am not my twin brother?' he thought. "You are welcome," he said softly, watching the boy stood upright again. "What is your name?"

"My name is Yuki Hitsuka," said Hitsuka with a bow. The man and the boy stared at each other until Hitsuka broke the silence, "Umm… if you don't mind, I'll have to go now. Someone is waiting for me at home to make dinner." Without waiting for a reply, he gave another bow and ran off.

'Interesting boy,' Hiashi thought as he watched the running boy. 'He is just what the Hokage-sama said he is and I want to have another talk with him. Interesting…' With that in mind, he started to walk back to his home, the Hyuuga mansion.

'Err… my meetings with the Hyuuga are always surprising and unexpected,' he thought, scratching the back of his head. 'I really don't like this at all. What should I make for tonight's dinner? We had fish and rice yesterday. Maybe we can have ramen today? I really need to teach Naruto how to cook so I can rest once in awhile.'

If anyone could read his mind, they would stumble in surprise by the abrupt change of topics.

The next day, Hitsuka went to the Academy like usually and Naruto went with him as well. On the way, Naruto bounced around and laughed, either ignoring the cold glares that were directed at him and Hitsuka or he just didn't notice. Hitsuka laughed lightly at/with Naruto then he said, "You can stop following us now." Naruto looked confused but from the crowd, a teenage boy walked up to the pair.

'He isn't old enough to be a man but he is old enough to remember the Kyuubi attack,' Hitsuka thought as he watched the teenager walked closer. 'With all the fines and punishment from the Hokage, you would've thought that those people should learn by now not to mess with Naruto.' The teenager stopped right in front of the boys. "What do you want," Hitsuka asked coldly.

The teenager smirked and without a word, he drew back his fist. Hitsuka was ready to make hand seals, wanting to kick this bastard's ass when something landed in front of him, stopping the fist. It was a ninja, an anbu in fact, wearing a dog mask and a mess of silver hair. 'He looks like HIM,' Hitsuka thought.

"What do you think you are doing? You know it's forbidden to harm Uzumaki Naruto, a law set by Hokage-sama," the anbu said in a monotone but young voice, letting everyone knew that he was also a teenager. "For this, you will be punished." With that the anbu got behind the teenager's back, twisting his arm in the process so he couldn't run away.

"What I am doing? What I am doing?" the teenager yelled. "I am doing the world a big favor by killing the demon!" he looked at Naruto with hate in his eyes and he continued, "You are the demon Kyuubi and you killed all those peop…"

The anbu silenced the fool with a chop to his neck. He looked up to look at Naruto's reaction since being called the demon Kyuubi wouldn't usually happen on a normal day. What he saw was a great surprise. There stood Hitsuka with his hands over Naruto's ears. 'So Naruto didn't hear anything,' the anbu thought and looked at Hitsuka. 'Did the boy cover Naruto's ears because he didn't want Naruto to hear the hateful words, or because he knows about the Kyuubi?'

"Thank you for helping us," Hitsuka said, releasing Naruto from his hold. Naruto turned to face him, giving a light sob. Although he didn't hear anything, he saw the look full of hatred directed at him. 'You're so young and innocent, yet you have to carry such a burden that even a grown up would go crazy at the thought of carrying such creature,' Hitsuka thought, wrapping his arms around Naruto.

The anbu picked up the unconscious teenager and hoisted him up his shoulder. "Just in case anyone wants finish the job this fool had started, I'll walk you to your destination," he said in a soft voice.

Hitsuka nodded and once again thank the anbu, "Thank you very much but I don't think you should be seen by the others. After all, anbu are not supposed to be seen unless something big is happening." The anbu nodded, slightly shocked at what Hitsuka knew. "I'll thank you again," Hitsuka continued with a smile, "Hatake-san." He turned and resumed walking again with Naruto following him. If one looked closely at his back, they might see little devil's wings and tail waggling.

Hatake Kakashi was glad that he had his mask on for right now shock was stamped all over his face. 'He knew who I am even with my mask on and this is only our first meeting! I'll need to report this to Hokage-sama after I see them to their destination.' With those thoughts in mind, he jumped into the shadows, with his unconscious burden, and followed the disappearing boys.

Kakashi left the boys as soon as he saw them walking into the Ninja Academy. He then teleported into the Hokage's office. The Third, recognized the chakra signature, put down the document he was reading. He looked up at Kakashi then looked down at the crumpled figure on the floor, which Kakashi dropped upon his arrival. "Ah, what can I do for you, Kakashi?" the Third asked.

"Hokage-sama," Kakashi bowed. "Sorry for intruding but this person was attacking Uzumaki Naruto and his companion. I was there at the time so I interrupted the attack and knocked him unconscious."

"Naruto and his companion… Ah, you meant Yuki Hitsuka," the Hokage realized who Kakashi was talking about. "You have been on a mission for awhile, Kakashi, so that's why you missed out the meeting I had on that boy, Yuki Hitsuka."

"Is there anything important I need to know about him?" Kakashi said, thinking about how Hitsuka was protecting Naruto.

"Well," the old man started, lacing his fingers together and placed his chin on the top. "Yuki Hitsuka is currently living with Uzumaki Naruto and is looking after Naruto. He attends the Ninja academy and is under the tutelage of Umino Iruka. He seems normal but he is very smart and he knows things that no one that young should know. Many people, including the head of Hyuuga house and his brother, share the same idea."

"That explained quite a lot," Kakashi said thoughtfully and he told the Third what he saw Hitsuka did during the attack.

"So he might know about the Kyuubi and yet he continues to live with Naruto," said the old man, somewhat confused.

"Do you think Hitsuka might be some kind of spy? He is intelligent enough," Kakashi asked, afraid for the safety of his village.

"No," the Third instantly replied. "I don't know for sure but I have this feeling. And after seeing how he would save Naruto without caring about his safety I don't think he is a spy." Kakashi was kind of confused so the Hokage told him the other attack on Naruto and any other information on Hitsuka.

After their meeting, Kakashi left for his apartment, the Hokage continued his paper works and the Konoha jail had a new resident.

* * *

Whoa, the longest chapter so far. I hope you like it. Please review. Oh yeah, can I please have suggestion for the pairing? I know Naruto and Hitsuka are still young but I need to do something about the pairing. That's all for today. See ya!


	9. Chapter 9

Sorry for not updating in awhile. I was going to update yesterday but the system wouldn't let me log on so I just continued writing my fanfic. And know I'll apologize for something. So here we go (take a large breath). **I AM VERY SORRY BUT I DIDN'T KNOW HAS THIS SYSTEM THAT CAN BLOCK OUT REVIEWS FROM PEOPLE THAT ARE NOT REREGISTERED SO I AM SORRY IF YOU HAVE MADE A REVIEW AND I DIDN'T READ IT BECAUSE I HAD THAT SYSTEM TURNED ON SO CAN YOU PLEASE REVIEW AGAIN IF THAT IS THE CASE BECAUSE I HAVE TURNED IT OFF NOW **(gasping for breath) So yeah.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto because I… just don't.

_Dragon Man180: Naruto and Hinata is quite a good pairing. I am not quite sure about Hitsuka and Ayame because she is five years older than Hitsuka's body and one year older than Hitsuka's mind. Complicate. And as for Hitsuka going on missions, Naruto will probably go and stay with Iruka or the Hyuuga._

_mrasdfghj: Umm, I don't want to be unfair here but, yeah, I kind of have to agree with you. Please vote for your favourite pairing for Naruto at the bottom._

_ranma hibiki: Read the chapter and you will find out._

_koolanimefreek: Great ideas for the pairing. I am going to do a voting system (which may not work) so please read the things at the bottom and vote! The rookie nine will come out soon, eventually._

_chrln2004: Of course the Uchiha will be here. And don't worry; I won't make Itachi evil because he is so cool!_

_joecool4: Yup Hitsuka will prevent Hizashi from getting kill and yes Naruto will meet the other people. Thank you for your encouragement!_

_Night-Owl123: Thank you! Yes Naruto will meet the others soon._

_Uzimakikame: The next chapter is coming up. Thank you for loving this fanfic._

_Arnoldstrife: Thanks!_

_Toki Mirage: First I'll say, WHOA, long review! Then, __**THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TELLING ME ABOUT THE 'USER ONLY' SETTING **__(bowing, bowing, bowing)Nice way of saying you love my fanfic, I think… Oh yeah, Mandarin is my first language. Why do you ask? _

Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Now let's get on with the chapter shall we?

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

* * *

Chapter nine

'Stupid freakin' people and their stupid, annoy, petty, etc. freakin' revenges,' Hitsuka thought in annoyance, although his face didn't show anything, as he and Naruto walked into the noisy classroom.

'Poor Iruka-sensei,' Naruto thought in sympathy as he watched the young man trying to get the attention of his students. Hitsuka was thinking something similar to Naruto.

Yes, those two kids wanted to start their lesson (Hitsuka's from Iruka and Naruto's from Hitsuka). True, those two were the infamous troublemakers, prankster, mastermind of tricks, and the rest, yeah. But they were all business when it came to learning. So while Iruka was still being gentle and hadn't brought out his over-large monstrous head yet, veins started to pop on Hitsuka's head.

Naruto, who had got to know Hitsuka pretty well, understood the seriousness and the importance of the popping veins. "Err… Hitsuka?" he asked timidly, afraid that Hitsuka would direct his wrath on him. He gave a sigh of relief when Hitsuka didn't acknowledge him but his heart also started to beat faster because of this fact. 'It takes a lot to piss Hitsuka so what had piss him off so much that he is up to this new stage of not hearing my voice?' Naruto had seen Hitsuka angry before, but they were light anger or frustration. Never did he see Hitsuka like this before. So for his own safety, he started to move towards the closed classroom door, ready to run if hell broke loose. He didn't try to warn the others 

because the warning wouldn't help much anyway. Once Hitsuka was out to kill, he wouldn't leave anyone left with the exception of him.

He slid the door open very quietly, and sneaked out, not forgetting to close the door. He peeped through the glass panel on the door by grabbing and standing on a chair. What he saw made him vowed never, NEVER to piss Hitsuka off under any kind of circumstances.

Iruka was first to notice the growing killing intent from the door, after all, he was a chuunin. He turned to see the white haired boy with strangely glowing gold eyes. He instantly froze on the spot. 'I… I can't move! Is this what true fear feels like!' Iruka thought in terror. 'I have to protect my student, but Hitsuka is my student, too! Help!' It wasn't fear that had frozen the chuunin. It was in fact a genin level jutsu, Kanashibari no Jutsu (Body Freeze Technique).

The other students, finally noticing their teacher had stopped shouting, turned to look at their beloved (?) teacher, only to find him froze up, staring at something. They all, in one motion, turned to look at Hitsuka too. 'Wrong move!' Naruto thought with fear outside the classroom. The rest of the class too, froze like statues.

Every pair of eyes followed Hitsuka, the only thing that they could move, as he slowly moved toward the front of the classroom. Without a word he picked up a chalk and slowly started to write on the black board, applying more energy then necessarily thus making that screechy high pitch noise that made the hair on the back of your neck stood on their ends. Everyone winced. Hitsuka continued the torture. Soon on the black board, in beautiful calligraphy writing; was the kanji 'DIE'.

Then hell broke loose, with demon running around, spitting fire, fire roaring, lava pouring, and the devil himself stood in the middle, slowly drawing out his weapon from his pouch.

'We are all gonna die!' was the thought running through every mind in the room. All eyes trained on the hand that was drawing out the would-be weapon. The weapon was… A PERMANENT-MARKER! Everyone sighed in relief but Hitsuka started to chuckle evilly. Not a good sign.

Approximately an hour later, Hitsuka walked out the classroom calmly as if nothing happened. No one came to investigate the screams of horror and the cries of help. They merely thought, 'It's Iruka's class so it must be one of those pranks.' Oh how wrong they were, but they didn't know that. They were lucky, they had just escape the fate of being drawn on by the Evil Permanent-Marker.

Iruka and his class, excluding Hitsuka and Naruto, were found later in the day, fainted on the ground and a huge mirror in the front of the classroom. The victims of this tragedy could barely explain what happened through their trembling lips. They never gave the name of the evil person who had drawn on them. They were too afraid. At the end, they all muttered in perfect union, "The Evil Permanent-Marker, the Evil Permanent-Marker…"

Children were all brought home by their parents and Iruka was taken home by some medic-nin. The next day, there were only three people in Iruka's classroom, Hitsuka, who was back to normal, Naruto and Iruka… who was cover from head to toes in bandages, like a mummy. A failing attempt in hiding what was written and drawn on him. The rest of the class stayed at home for another week before coming to school again, free of the Evil Permanent-Marker. No one who knew of the experience ever tried again to interrupt Iruka's class again. They didn't want it to happen again, they didn't even want to remember it. In a way Iruka was glad and thanked Hitsuka for this.

At the end of the day, you could say that everyone was happy, just… watched out when Hitsuka got mad.

_In the apartment_

It was a great day when Hitsuka woke up. The sun was shining and the birds were chirping. Hitsuka stretched like a cat and got up from the bed, leaving Naruto to sleep in. He went through his daily routine, thinking what he should do that day and the oncoming day of Hinata's birthday. 'I have approximately a month to find a way,' he thought while preparing some coffee. 'But I really have no idea what I should do!'

KNOCK. KNOCK.

"Coming!" Hitsuka yelled out. 'Who could be visiting us?' he thought while walking towards the door. When he opened the door, an unknown Hyuuga stood there.

"Yuki Hitsuka-kun?" the unknown Hyuuga asked.

"Yes… that's me," Hitsuka replied, not sure why the Hyuuga was there.

"Hyuuga Hiashi-sama from the Hyuuga Main family requested a meeting with you this afternoon at four o'clock. Would you attend?" the Hyuuga said.

"Well. This is unexpected," Hitsuka muttered then said, "Please inform Hyuuga-sama that I am honoured and I shall come at the appointed time."

"Very well, I'll take my leave now." The Hyuuga inclined his head but before he disappeared, Hitsuka asked quickly.

"Can I bring Naruto with me? I can't leave him at home alone for such a long time."

"Yes," was the reply before the Hyuuga disappeared with a poof.

'Wow, just wow,' Hitsuka thought as he closed the door. 'I never thought that Hyuuga-sama would want to talk to me. After all, I look like a three-year-old!' He woke Naruto up and they got ready for the day ahead.

_3:55pm outside the Hyuuga mansion_

"It's huge!" Naruto squealed and the Hyuuga guards looked sternly at the two boys.

"Naruto, what have I told you? Use your inside voice when we are here. Some people don't like loud voices," Hitsuka reminded Naruto. They were exactly on time and a maid showed them into the house.

"But it's HUGE!" Naruto whispered and Hitsuka gave a light chuckle.

They were led to an empty room with a low table and some sitting mats. They were told to sit down and that Hyuuga-sama would be with them shortly. Hitsuka sat down formally liked one would in a formal occasion. Naruto copied him. Soon the paper door slid open and Hiashi came in. "Good evening," he said.

"Good evening, Hyuuga-sama," Hitsuka returned the greeting, now standing, with a bow. Naruto copied.

"Would you like some tea," Hiashi offered his guests after they all sat down again. Hitsuka took up the offer and Naruto hesitated before saying no. Silence settled down around them like mist. After awhile, Naruto started to fidget. Hiashi saw this and hid a smile with his cup. 'So young Naruto-kun is not use to this while Hitsuka-kun is quite comfortable. I'll end Naruto-kun's misery since his friend and I are going to discuss some serious things,' Hiashi thought then he said, "Naruto-kun, would you like to go out and play in the garden?"

Naruto turned to Hitsuka, silently asking for permission with his puppy dog eyes. Hitsuka nodded, unable to resist the pleading eyes, and thanked the leader of the house.

When Naruto was gone, the serious conversation began. "I had wanted to talk to you again since we first met. I have some unanswered questions which I hope you can help me with," Hiashi started.

With a gulp, Hitsuka gave a nod. "I'll answer to the best of my abilities."

Looking right into the small boy's eyes, Hiashi asked, "How did you know who I am and not my twin brother?"

Mentally groaning, Hitsuka thought, 'Why do these people always start with a hard question and not something like 'how are you'? Well here I go.'

"One, because I know your brother Hyuuga-san quite well, two, I recognized your face, and three, you don't have the curse seal."

Hiashi nearly sprayed Hitsuka with the liquid in his mouth which would be hilarious if it wasn't for the serious situation. "You know about the curse seal? How much do you know?" he asked while thinking, 'I hope he is as trustworthy as Hokage-sama thinks he is.'

'Maybe I shouldn't have said anything about the curse seal,' Hitsuka thought regretfully. "The Main family of the Hyuuga clan has this special ninjutsu that has been passed down from generations to generations. It's a curse seal jutsu and everyone from the Branch family will get it carved into their forehead at a young age, they live to protect the Main family. And…" he trailed off, unsure if he should continue or not.

"Please continue," Hiashi prompted him. 'He knows the most basic but does he know things that are only known by a few people outside Hyuuga family?'

"Err… very well… the Main family members can easily destroy the minds of the Branch family members with a simple secret hand seal. The curse will only disappear after death, sealing up the ability of Byakugan at the same time. This is all for the protection of the advance Byakugan blood of the Hyuuga."

"You… know quite a lot," Hiashi said, not really sure if he was surprised or not. 'So he knows…'

"Thank you." Hitsuka was uncertain whether this was a compliment or not.

"Now tell me why I shouldn't give you to Hokage-sama as a spy or kill you right now," Hiashi demanded; his face in an emotionless mask.

This time, Hitsuka did groaned out loud. 'Maybe I shouldn't have said so much and described everything in detail.' Sighing, he hoped he could change the man's mind. "Because Hokage-sama himself trusts me, I don't mean any harm and I was just telling the truth, and I've got someone to look after."

Hiashi silently debated, 'I can see no lie in his eyes, but that doesn't explain how he knows so much.' Looking down at the boy, he said, "Then tell me, how do you know so much about the Hyuuga?

'Your nephew told it to the world in the chuunin exam in the future. If I said that I would probably be labelled as crazy,' Hitsuka thought with a bit of sarcasm. "I… have a reliable source of information and I read."

"I don't suppose you want to share your 'reliable' source do you."

"Heh, heh…" Hitsuka laughed a bit nervously. 'My laptop?! NEVER!' he thought then replied with a definite "No."

Staring hard at Hitsuka, Hiashi sighed, "…I really want to say I don't believe you and knock you unconscious then take you to the interrogation room. I really want to say and do all that but… I have to admit, I have found you strangely trustworthy."

'Phew!'

"Well, I am glad. Um, what time is it?"

A bit taken back at the sudden change of topic, Hiashi said, "It's… quarter to six."

"What!" Hitsuka exclaimed, standing up. "I need to go home to make dinner. Naruto must be hungry."

'Even though he could have just died then, he's still worry about Naruto-kun,' Hiashi thought in amusement. "Why don't you and Naruto-kun stay for dinner tonight?"

Hitsuka looked at the strong leader and sat back down again. "Are you sure it won't be too much trouble?" he asked.

"No. In fact, I think my wife will be glad to have some more people at her table," Hiashi assured Hitsuka with a smile.

"Then we are honoured," Hitsuka said.

"Good," Hiashi replied, standing up. "Please find Naruto-kun and I shall send someone to take you to the dinning room. I'll see you soon." Then he left the room and Hitsuka too, left to find Naruto outside in the garden.

"Naruto! Where are you Naruto?" Hitsuka called out, looking for the young blond. He heard a stifled laugh then a shy giggle and he instantly knew where Naruto was. 'Wait a sec. A shy giggle? Naruto will 

never giggle like that,' he thought as he jumped into a bush, landing in front of Naruto, who squealed then laughed.

"Hitsuka! I made a new friend today!" Naruto said, barely holding down his excitement.

'That might explain the giggle,' Hitsuka thought in interest. 'Who may it be? Someone in the Hyuuga household that is shy. No, it can't be…'

"Meet Hinata-chan!" Naruto stepped aside, revealing the hidden girl. She blushed but forced herself to stay where she was to meet this wonderful person Naruto-kun had described.

"Ni-nice to mee-mee-meet you," Hinata stutter and bow. "My-my na-name is Hi- Hina-Hinata."

"Nice to meet you too, Hinata-san," Hitsuka replied with a bow too. "My name is Yuki Hitsuka."

"I found her in the bush and I asked her if she wants to play and she said yes! So we played with her ball then hide-and-seek and…" Naruto babbled on. He only stopped when Hitsuka covered his mouth with a hand.

"Tell me later. Geez Naruto, you talk too much." Both Hitsuka and Hinata giggled at Naruto's pouting face. "Anyway," Hitsuka continued, "we are staying here for dinner tonight." At this, Hinata drew up enough courage to lead her two guests to the dinning room.

"Good Hinata, I see you have brought our guests too dinner," Hiashi said when the children entered the room.

He was sitting at the head of the table, 'Like the head of the house would,' Hitsuka absently thought. He took a look around the dinning room. There are a few paintings on the wall and a big low rectangle table in the middle with sitting mats around it. 'It's like an old Japanese house with all the strict rules.'

"Good evening father," Hinata said, without a stutter, as she bowed. Hitsuka also said his greeting with a bow and Naruto copied him. Hiashi acknowledged them with a nod from his head.

"Please sit down," he said to them, s o they sat. This was the sitting order: Hiashi at the head of the table, Hitsuka on his right hand side and Naruto next to him. Hinata was sitting opposite to Naruto and her mother would sit on the left hand side of Hiashi, next to Hinata.

After a few minutes of waiting, the paper door slid open and delicious aroma could be smelled by the people in the room. A beautiful lady with long purple-black hair walked in with a few maids behind her, all had a plate or a bowl in their hands. Soon the table was laden with food. "Good evening everyone," Hinata's mother said and the people at the table greeted back. "My name is Hyuuga Iyo, it's a pleasure to meet you," she introduced herself, looking at her two guests with kind eyes.

"The pleasure is ours, Iyo-san. You might already know but I'll introduce ourselves again." Hitsuka smiled. 'I like this lady,' he thought. "My name is Yuki Hitsuka and this is Uzumaki Naruto."

"Nice to meet you," Naruto shyly said. 'Is this what having a mother feels like?' he wondered.

"Let us eat now or the food will go cold," Hiashi said in a no nonsense voice but secretly, he wanted to dig into his wife's lovely dinner. After all, he had a reputation to keep. So they started eating, having small chitchats now and then. Towards the end of the dinner, the two youngest children, Naruto and Hinata, were swaying lightly with tiredness and the need to sleep.

Hitsuka noticed this and so did the adults. "It's getting late and we should leave now, Hyuuga-sama," Hitsuka said to Hiashi. "Or Naruto will fall asleep on the table."

"Very well, I wil-" Hiashi started then…

"Oh no! I cannot let you walk out there in the dark," Iyo cut off her husband and directed an I-know-you-are-the-head-of-the-house-but-disagree-with-me-you-will-cook-your-own-dinner-for-three-monthes glance at Hiashi.

"Err I mean, please stay the night for it's dark outside and may be dangerous," Hiashi immediately rephrased.

"I don't want us to be too much trouble for you," Hitsuka replied with a knowing smile.

"No, no, no, you two won't be too much trouble at all. I'll be too happy if you stay," Iyo insisted.

Both Hinata and Naruto, now wide awaked, were waiting for Hitsuka's answer, holding their breath. Hitsuka looked thoughtful then winked at Naruto. "If it's really not too much, I will be happy to accept the invitation." Naruto whooped and ran around the table to Hinata who, forgot her shyness, was giggling with happiness.

Hitsuka smiled at the cute scene Naruto and Hinata made while Hinata's parents were shocked. 'Hinata's giggling!' was the thought racing through their head. Their daughter rarely showed much emotion other than blushing, blushing and… blushing. They knew, for a fact, Hinata never giggled in front of a stranger or someone new so it was a huge 1000 volts shock to both of them.

"Fa-father, can we be dismissed?" Hinata asked her father, who shook himself out of his daze state and nodded. So the two children ran off, after gaining the permission from Hitsuka too, Hinata leading the way to her room saying, "I want to-to show you some-something, Na-Naruto-kun." None of them thought of taking Hitsuka with them.

'They didn't wait for me,' a chibi version of Hitsuka pouted inside his mind. He was pulled back to reality when he heard Iyo talking to him.

"I will set up some mattresses inside Hinata-chan's bedroom so you can all sleep together. Now why don't you run off and join Hi-" This time it was Iyo who got cut off.

"No. I want to speak with Hitsuka-kun a bit more," Hiashi looked directly at Hitsuka when he said this. Hitsuka winced inside. He knew he couldn't get out of this one and agreed weakly.

"Please follow me," Hiashi said and stood up. Hitsuka followed. They walked down the corridor, not talking. Hiashi brought them to a stop in front of a wall and turned to Hitsuka. "Can you swear to keep a secret that is important to the family of Hyuuga?" he asked solemnly.

Hitsuka, slightly confused but understood the seriousness, replied, "I will swear on my life as long as this secret will not bring harm to the ones I love."

"I promise you it won't," Hiashi said and focused his chakra. He did a few hand seals and a door appeared on the white wall. "Please come into the secret room only the Heads of the Hyuuga clans, and now you, know," he told the wide-eyed boy.

Hitsuka stepped into the room before Hiashi, who shut the door behind them. It was not big but was full of bookshelves and had a table and two chairs in the middle. Each bookshelf had books and records neatly arranged. "Why are you showing me this?" Hitsuka asked breathlessly. "If this room is so important, why show it to a stranger like me?"

"I… I don't know."

Hitsuka turned sharply to look at Hiashi. 'Is it me or did Hiashi just admitted to ME that he doesn't know something,' he thought in surprise.

Hiashi must have seen his surprise on his face because then he said, "Yes I really don't know why I trust you so much. I barely know you! But I am acting on impulse now so…"

Hitsuka grinned and a tiny you-couldn't-see-it-unless-you-have-a-microscope-with-you blush appeared on Hiashi's face. "What?" he said, trying to act as if nothing was happening.

"Oh nothing," Hitsuka said, still grinning. "Just that you don't strike me as a man who would act on impulses."

Hiashi secretly admitted that he wasn't but he would never tell anyone that. "Anyway," he said with a cough. "I brought you to this room because I want to show you something." He pulled a scroll out from the shelf and gave it to Hitsuka who opened the item and started to look through it. The scroll contained the secret of the Hyuuga curse seal. It had the hand seals and instructions all in great detail. Hitsuka nearly tripped over in his shocked state.

"What… why…" Hitsuka was very confused and couldn't get his question out properly. At last he calmed his racing heart and asked in a not quite steady voice, "Why are you showing this to me? A mere child?"

"Yes, you are but a child," Hiashi replied slowly. "But I think there are more of you than what meets the eyes. You are smart and you have proved it many times. And as to why I am showing you the scroll, I want you to help me to find a way to undo the curse seal of the Hyuuga and stop the whole Main and Branch families' hate."

"What!" Hitsuka exclaimed. Never in his life, here and his world, would he think that Hiashi wanted to stop the difference between the Main and Branch families. 'Who is this guy and what has him done to Hiashi?' he thought weakly. 'Is this the same guy that had used the seal against Hizashi?'

"But what can I do?"

"By looking at the hand seals, it is possible to find the solution to reverse the curse seal. So you can give me ideas," Hiashi answered, looking at the white but calm face of the boy.

"You do know you are defying the Elders," the boy replied.

"Yes and I am willing to bear the consequences."

"And you do know that I can break my vow and run off to tell your enemies. That I don't have to help you and be on my merry way. That I may not be any help at all."

"Yes, I thought about all of that and I am still willing to take the chance," Hiashi said with determination.

"Then I am willing to help," Hitsuka said with a smile. "I will help you in any kind of ways and I will support you too."

"Thank you," Hiashi said gratefully and he bowed to Hitsuka, who blushed a bright shade of red and hurried to stop Hiashi.

'When I was reading Naruto manga, I thought it will be cool that I'll be able to find a cure kind of thing for the Branch family. I would never imagine that it will come true,' Hitsuka thought. 'Now I'll have to work.' So he and Hiashi talked for a couple of hours when the clock alerted them the time. It was three in the morning.

"We did quite well today," Hiashi said, looking at the time. He chuckled at Hitsuka's attempt to hide a splitting jaw yawn. "And I think we should go to bed now. We can continue this some other time."

"Yeah…" Hitsuka mumbled but promptly fell asleep, right there on the table, in front of Hiashi.

Hiashi chuckled again and lifted Hitsuka up to take him to bed. 'Even though he has shown wisdoms beyond his age, he's still a child,' he thought. But what he didn't know was that Hitsuka was in fact already sixteen and held the knowledge of their future.

From then on, Hitsuka and Naruto were able to go in and out of the Hyuuga household as they pleased. Naruto would often come to play with either Hinata or Neji and at the end, both. At first, for some reason, Naruto could never play with both Hyuuga kids at the same time. Always a servant or a maid or a member of the family would come and take Hinata away. But at the end, Hiashi had given permission for them to play together. So in the usual silent Hyuuga mansion, one could sometimes hear the ringing laughter of children.

They even trained together, which Hitsuka would often join, by the elder Hyuuga twins. Hinata trained because she was the heiress, Neji trained because he had to protect the heiress and Naruto and Hitsuka trained because of the vows they made. With each other's presence near by, they improved in leaps.

Hitsuka would come to the Hyuuga mansion to talk to Hiashi. He suggested to let Hizashi to join their secret meetings and that was soon arranged. The twins, separated at birth by the Elders, finally had the chance to face each other on the same ground. At the start, the hate for the Main family still got between them. But gradually the stings were gone and in secret, they showed affection like brothers would. Only Hitsuka saw these new feelings of the brothers because once they were back outside, they had to pretend everything was the same. This was like this because they didn't want anyone to find out what they were up to.

As Hinata's birthday was getting nearer, Hitsuka had plans for the Cloud shinobi. Big plans.

* * *

Err... I don't think this chapter is very interesting, but it's very important (Trying to convince myself so I don't have to write the whole thing again)! I once again apologize for not noticing the system that you can turn on to prevent reviews from people that are not registered. Sorry. But **PLEASE REVIEW BECAUSE I HAVE TURNED IT OFF NOW! **Yeah.


	10. Chapter 10

I am SO sorry for not updating for such a long, long, long time. It was not my fault for not updating. There are two reasons. 1) My dear, dear, DEAR loving cousin had freakin' blew up the poor computer and it just got fixed yesterday. 2) My other female cousin is staying with me right now and even if the computer didn't blow I still won't be able to update. You see, my cousin is crazy about... about... I can't say the word... about... SHOPPING! I personally don't mind shopping but honestly, shopping with a girl who doesn't even know what a game boy is for FIVE days in a row can wear anyone out. So yeah, my holiday didn't start too well.

I have also made up my mind about the pairings. That is... not to do any. Really, romance is not my thing and there are so many different pairings out there that is so annoy. So I decided to ditch the pairing thing.

_ranma hibiki: Thank you so much for your time. You are very thoughtful but I am sorry because I am not going to do any pairings. They will kind of ruin the story. By the way, Itachi is only 5 years older than Naruto._

_Dragon Man 180: Naruto Hinata is a great pairing but I am not going to do any romance in this fanfic. Iyo will still be around unless there is a Hyuuga massacre which I highly doubt._

_mrasdfghj: NaruTema, not a common pairing but has been done before. A great pairing if you ask me but I am not doing any romance in this fanfic as I have said before._

_lilbunnyfufu: Before I do/say anything, I must thank you for such along long, long review. I was shocked and happy at your thoughts on my fanfic and I'll watch out for the things and mistakes that you have listed out. I am sorry that this chapter is not as long due to fact that I didn't have much time to write and I wish to update soon. For the reasons why I haven't write for awhile go and read the top._

_Toki Mirage: Err... I hope you won't do anything... unpleasant to me for not updating soon. But yeah... (laughing nervously). Anyway (cough, cough), I am not doing any pairings but yes, naru/neji is cute! _

_Night-Owl123: Yes! You've got your wish. NO PAIRINGS! And no, I won't do the script format any more. Thanks for the advice._

_Arnoldsrife: Like I said before, Naruto-Hinata is a great pairing but pity; I am not doing any romance. I might as a one-shot. Thank you for reviewing._

_NarutoAndHinata: From your pen-name, I can tell that you love naruto-hinata pairing, but sorry, I am not doing romance. Thanks for reviewing._

_joekool: Don't worry, no yaoi or yuri because there is NO PAIRING in this fanfic. Thanks for the advice._

_kawaiichibi: The demon pairing? Very interesting but there is no romance here. Sorry. _

_Stonebridge: Nah No pairing so no gay Naruto. Yup! Thanks for the review._

_reighost: Naruto and Sasuke is a great and common pairing for the yaoi fans but no romance in this fanfic. Sorry. Oh yeah, thanks for reviewing and voting._

_Rishan: Thank you for your compliment. I try and make sure it will be up to your standard of awesome. And there is no pairing anymore so don't worry about the voting thing._

_rurouniturtle: Err... please no mallet? Please? I have updated just a bit... late? Anyway, no pairing so no yaoi. Sorry._

_Enigma: Err... sorry, no pairings. But I agree with what you think about Naruto/Hinata and Naruto/Temari. Thanks for your review._

_Uzumakikame: Sorry for bursting your bubble but there is no romance in this fanfic from now on. Sorry but I will still keep on going._

_Inuyasha-gal-97: I hope you are OK because passing out from the lack of oxygen is not a good thing. Thanks for the short but a great review._

_pink-kitty: Maybe no, Hitsuka will see the Uchiha after the Hyuuga incident and after something big that I have been planning. Please keep on reading, the Uchiha will definitely come out._

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Why? Because I just don't. Why? Because... I don't know

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

* * *

Chapter ten

As Hinata's birthday drew near, Hitsuka was getting even more nervous. He wanted to warn the Hokage, Hiashi and Hizashi. But how? How could he warn them without revealing too much? Yes, he had a plan, but it would be better to be safe than sorry.

While he was pondering on this question, Naruto ran in and tackled him to the ground. "Let's train Hitsuka! I want to show you something!" an excited Naruto said, bouncing lightly on Hitsuka's stomach.

"What do you want to show me?" Hitsuka asked, laughing lightly. Naruto grinned and wouldn't tell. So Hitsuka lifted Naruto up from his stomach and started to tickle him mercilessly. Naruto laughed and giggled, squirming to get away from Hitsuka but failed.

With tears running down his face, Naruto gasped out between giggles, "S-Stop! _Ha ha ha!_ I wa-want to sh-_ha ha ha-_show you a ne-new ju_-ha ha ha- _jutsu I learnt!"

"Now that wasn't too hard was it?" Hitsuka asked, stopping his attack which left Naruto gasping for breath.

"That was mean, Hitsuka!" Naruto pouted as they walked outside, heading towards their secret training area. Their secret training area, known only to them and the animals, was in the Konoha forest. It was a natural clearing next to a little river. On one side of the clearing was a rock wall. Looming up and up (and up) with a cave in it. Trees surrounded the rest of the area. Naruto and Hitsuka had discovered this place during one of their pranks.

_Flash Back_

"Do you have the bomb ready, Agent N?" Agent H whispered into his headset which was connected to a walkie-talkie.

"Yes, everything is in order." Agent N's voice came through the headset.

"Good. Drop it when I count down to 0. 3... 2... 1... 0!" Agent H watched as a thick layer of smoke started to rise in front of the stone faces of the four Hokage. Soon, the just awaken villagers frowned in confusion to why they couldn't see the Hokage Monument but only smoke.

"Now, Agent N. We only have a few minutes before the smoke clears. With your chakra control you should be able to walk on the cliff wall now. Go!" Agent H commanded as he walked down the cliff. Target: Shodaime's face.

A few minutes later, just as when the smoke started to fade, Agent H stood on the top of the monument. Mission accomplished. "Agent N? Are you done?" he asked and through the headset he heard Agent N's reply.

"Just finished. We should get out of he- ARRGH HELP ME HITSUKA!"

Fear gripped his heart as Hitsuka (Agent H) sprinted to where Naruto (Agent N) should be, speaking fast into the headset, "Are you okay, Naruto? What happened?"

"I slipped! Right now I'm holding on to the Third's right eyebrow. Quick! I'm slipping!" Naruto yelled urgently. His feet were dangling in the air and he couldn't get a good hold to swing himself up or attach his feet to the rock surface. So he focused his chakra into his hands instead to stick to the rock surface.

"I'm coming!" Naruto heard Hitsuka shouting above him. "Don't look down!" But when someone told you not to do something, you always did it anyway. This was exactly what Naruto did. He looked down and down (and down). Naruto was not afraid of height but he lost his concentration in his state of shock.

'Oh no, no, no, no...!' Naruto thought as his hands finally betrayed him. 'I'm gonna die' But before he fell to his death, Hitsuka caught his hand.

"I told you not to look down," said Hitsuka with a grin, slightly sweating. If anyone could see through the fading smoke, they would see a boy hanging upside down underneath the Third's nose, holding onto another boy's hand that was dangling there. "Come on, we've got to go!" After setting Naruto on his feet, they ran away just when the smoke faded completely.

When the smoke was gone, revealing the almighty glory of the Hokage Monument under the blazing sun.

"What the hell!"

"Oh Kami-sama!" Fainted

"Ahahaha!" Cracked a rib.

"WTF!" Hit over the head by a nearby mother with her toddler who grinned and repeated, "WTF!"

"Must be those two!"

Different reactions and exclaims rang out from the village.

"My face is ruined," the Third said with a sigh. And the two pranksters? They ran home, into their bed and pretended to be asleep. Well, they were until...

"YUKI HITSUKA! UZUMAKI NARUTO!"

... their morning call from Iruka personally. So the two boys brought out their although-I-know-I-am-not-innocent-and-you-know-that-too-but-since-you-can't-prove-that-I-did-the-prank-so-I-am-innocent-so-there-ha!-face.

Later, Naruto told Hitsuka the reason he slipped. He had a good view of Konoha and saw a clearing. He wanted to have a better look so he leaned… and lost his concentration on his chakra control.

_Flash Back Ends_

'Naruto's chakra control is defiantly on a whole different level to the Naruto in the manga,' Hitsuka thought as they arrived at the clearing. 'That's what you get for training with the Hyuuga and someone who knows the future.'

"Hitsuka!" Naruto brought Hitsuka out of his musing with a whine.

"Okay, okay! Show me your new jutsu," Hitsuka chuckled. Naruto's face lit up with a grin then a frown settled on his brows as he concentrated. Gradually, blue chakra started to appear in his hand, swirling uncontrollably. Hitsuka's eyes widened. 'Th-That's the first stage or Rasengan!' he thought in surprise. "Wh-Who taught you that!" he asked a proud Naruto when he had finished his performance.

"A man with long white hair and funny markings on his face taught me!" said Naruto.

'Can he be...?' Hitsuka wondered then he asked another question, "Do you know what this man's called?"

"Hmm..." Naruto looked thoughtful then a light bulb went on above his head anime style. "I know, I know! The women at the bathhouse called him 'Pervert!' when they discovered him peeping. I think he taught me that jutsu just to get rid of me." Naruto fell silent, looking at Hitsuka who was thinking.

'A man, white hair, bathhouse, pervert and the fact that he knows Rasengan only point to one person. Who else can fit the description so perfectly anyway?' the white-haired boy thought. 'That man has to be him. I'm kinda glad that he taught Naruto something even if it was only to get rid of him. But I wonder if he has been teaching kids Yondaime's jutsu so he could be left alone and peep. If that's the case I'm so gonna kick his ass when I get a chance.'

"Ne, ne Hitsuka. I want to go to that man and show him that I can do it," Naruto said. "He said that I won't be able to do it! I've been practicing for the last two weeks and I have done it!"

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" After saying that, Hitsuka started to run towards the bathhouse with Naruto racing after him. 'I hope he is still in Konoha…'

* * *

Err... sorry for the rather short chapter. And sorry for leaving you at a semi cliff-hanger. I have to stop now because I have to go for more... SHOPPING! (If you don't know what I'm talking about, look at the start).

Anyway, I'll try to update soon. Please review.


	11. Chapter 11

Hmm... Hmm... Oh yes! Maybe not. Hmm... I really have nothing to say. So after the review and the disclaimer, just on with the fanfic.

_reighost: I am sorry! I didn't mean to leave it there! Here's the new chapter, please don't do anything to me!_

_Toki Mirage: I don't really mind hitsu/neji but maybe not in this fanfic. I could try to use this pairing in a one shot if you want. Maybe in the future went those kids are a bit more mature and know what they are doing._

_mrasdfghj: Yup, that super open pervert is here._

_lilbunnyfufu: You know what? I like you. I mean I like your reviews. They are great! And I'll kinda explain why Jiraiya taught Naruto Rasengan in this chapter._

_ranma hibiki: Err... if I don't know who the man is (coughJiraiyacough) I am a very bad fan of Naruto. What they did to the monument besides pranking it? Well that's easy. More pranks! Muahahahahha..._

_Dragon Man 180: Yes, Naruto and Hinata will definitely influence each other. They might develop brother and sister love. I am not sure._

_mark: Eh... I am sorry but in the last chapter I have explained that I am not going to do romance. I might do them in one shots. Naruto-Hinata is a great pairing that many people use._

_chaosknight: Thank you for your review! I am happy that you think my story is great._

_Virgil: I don't mind. Just as long as you come back and read it and tell me what you think. Thanks for your review!_

_drakedragon1: I am sorry but I am not doing any romance but getting Hinata to do pranks with the boys is a very good idea. Thank you! I'll see if I can fit it in with my story._

_night-owl123: I know Rasengan at the age of three is young but it's only the first stage! I don't think the Naruto in the manga took too long to master the first stage so this is why my Naruto took two weeks. He's a kid after all. I am not sure about Naruto summoning animals yet._

_kawaiineziumi: If you read this chapter you'll find the answer to your question. So here's the next chapter!_

_kageryuu: You really think I update regularly? Wow, I am not sure about regularly but if I don't update for more than a week, I'll feel guilty and my fingers will itch to type. Thanks for your review!_

_Rishan: Can't wait? Me neither. Thanks for your review. Here's the next chapter. _

_Firedude328: O... T...H...A...N...K...S..._

_rurouniturtle: You're sick! So am I, I have a sore throat now. Poor us! Umm... Are you being sarcastic about the whole Jiraiya and Kakashi? I hope you are, I had made sure that it's quite easy to guess who it is at the 'bath house'._

Disclaim: I don't own Naruto and I can't think of another way to say that.

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

* * *

Chapter 11

"Tee hee, hee!" a soft chuckle, that only a pervert could make, could be heard outside the female part of the bathhouse. "This is gonna be great for my book!" the man with white hair whispered, eyes trained on the tiny hole and writing furiously in a notebook.

"Sorry to interrupt your peeping but I need to ask you a few questions," a voice rang out behind the pervert, making the man nearly jumped in surprise. Keyword 'nearly'. A shinobi should never be caught off guard.

"What!" the man turned around and came face to face with a gold-eyed boy dressed in a knee-length black kimono. "I am not peeping! I am just-"

"Collecting data for your book," the boy cut in and the man's eyes widen.

'This boy should only be around three and he knows about my book?' the man thought in surprise. 'I have made sure that the book's rating is R18. Maybe I am just too famous! Hee hee!'

The boy smirked when he saw how surprised the man was. "Yes I know who you are, Jiraiya-sama. The author of Icha Icha Paradise. One of the Legendary Three taught by the Third Hokage himself and also a super open pervert," the boy finished with a grin. 'I don't think I revealed too much. These information should be able to find in books. Just may be not the super open pervert part.'

Jiraiya stared openly at the boy, forgetting to 'collect data'. "How do you know so much?" he asked, his voice full of curiosity and suspicion.

"I read," the boy replied. "But why I know so much is not important. I am here to ask you a few questions."

Jiraiya watched as the boy pulled another shorter boy out from the shadows, who was dressed in black shorts and an orange T-shirt. The man's eyes showed recognition upon seeing the boy. 'That's the boy who was bugging me two or three weeks ago! What is he doing here?'

"I assume you recognised this boy?" Jiraiya nodded cautiously at the gold-eyed boy's first question.

"You 'collect data' whenever you can and whatever chance you get." That was a statement and Jiraiya couldn't deny it (he didn't need to, he was god-damn proud of it).

"You get distractions." Jiraiya nodded, arms crossed in front of his chest.

"You have to get rid of the distractions by all means so you can get back to your 'collecting data'." Jiraiya furiously nodded.

"So I assume you bribe?" Jiraiya nodded again and looked at the boy. (1)

'Is it my imagination or do I see the devil himself behind this boy?' Jiraiya wondered. Things had not yet clicked in his perverted mind.

"Last two questions, did you bribe this boy," pointed at Naruto, "Two weeks ago to get rid of him?" Hitsuka asked.

"Yes," Jiraiya said slowly, wondering whether he should have just kept his mouth shut.

"So" Hitsuka said, taking a step forward. Jiraiya unconsciously took a step back. "So"

"Err... So what?" Jiraiya nervously chuckled. 'Why am I scared of this little boy?'

"So my last question," Hitsuka paused and continued in a quiet but deadly voice, "Have you been teaching small kids Rasengan which is a very powerful jutsu that was invented by the Yondaime of Konoha around the world?"

To say that Jiraiya, a super pervert but a great shinobi, was shocked was undeniable. 'This kid, not only he knows about me, he was able to recognise the first stage of Rasengan and who invented it,' he thought then he jumped to his defence, "I do not teach kids Rasengan around the world. This annoying kid bugged me so much that I just want to get rid him fast. So I only showed him this jutsu, I was, and still am, sure that he cannot do it anyway. He will just forget it soon afterwards."

"Those excuses are pathetic." Hitsuka frowned. "Not only did this 'annoying kid' remembered the jutsu, he had mastered the first stage!"

Jiraiya eyes widen in surprise, again, and looked at the blond boy. "Show me."

Naruto happily jumped in front of Hitsuka and did what he showed Hitsuka before. Soon, a small whirlpool of chakra was swirling on his hand.

"How... what... impossible..." Jiraiya muttered. "At his age, he shouldn't have enough chakra or chakra control to do even the first stage."

"This kid is special and the training with the Hyuuga Clan and I made him have well enough chakra control for someone his age," Hitsuka replied in a bored voice. "I think you should know this kid even if you didn't see him grow up."

"Who is he?" Jiraiya asked, quite interested.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto answered this question himself. "I am gonna get strong and protect those I love!"

"Uzumaki Naruto... Uzumaki... Naruto... Oh!" Jiraiya finally remembered who the boy was and what he carried.

"Yes, you finally remembered!" Hitsuka said in a voice that suggested that he was close to snap. "He was born with a large chakra capacity and with 'It' he's able to restore his chakra fast."

Jiraiya whipped his head around and stared at Hitsuka and flexed his fingers, ready to make hand seals. "Who are you?! How do you know about 'It'?"

"Go and ask your sensei for I am quite disappointed in you, Jiraiya-sama," Hitsuka said, turning to walk away with Naruto.

"Oh I think I'll just get my answers out from you!" Jiraiya yelled and jumped up, hands moving in a complex sequence of seals.

"Quick! Naruto, use Henge! Transform into a young girl!" Hitsuka told Naruto quickly, doing the hand seals for the Henge no jutsu himself. With two poofs, a pretty young woman with long flowing black hair and a small girl with two blond pigtails appeared in the boys' place.

Jiraiya paused in his seal making and stared regretfully at the young woman who was dressed in a loose black kimono, revealing a fair bit of skin. 'Why can't she be naked?! No, no, no...! That is only that boy in Henge! Concentrate! Concentrate! But she will look very nice if she has nothing on. Hee, hee!' Unknown to Jiraiya, he was drooling.

His pause of admiring and imagining had caused him great pain. Because just then, the young woman took a deep breath and screamed out, "PERVERT! OH HELP! THERE IS A PERVERT!" Soon Naruto joined as well.

Voices from inside the bathhouse rang out and feet pounding against the floor could be heard. Soon, women wrapt in towels came out and this was what they saw. A tall white haired man was caught peeping and now he was trying to rape the poor girls, having already half-undressed one of them. A woman cried out, "Let's get him girls!"

Although Jiraiya was a shinobi, a good one too, his perverted side of him stopped him from running away. Yes, he might lose his sight on the mystery boy and Naruto. Yes, he might get hurt or even killed by the angry mob. But it was an angry mob of HALF NAKED WOMEN! He was in heaven. A squeeze there and a slap here. He would sacrifice himself any day to get to a woman this close.

At the back of the angry women's minds, they all had one thought, 'This man looks familiar...' Of course this man looked familiar, he was one the Legendary Three, Jiraiya.

_Later that day, inside the Hokage's office_

'The report says that Jiraiya is currently inside Konoha,' the leader of the Konoha thought as he read the report in his hand. 'I wonder where he is now? Probably at the bathhouse. I must say that his books are quite good. Tee hee...'

Suddenly, he felt a large but familiar chakra coming towards his office. 'Speaking of the devil...'

"Hello sensei," Jiraiya said, coming through the window.

"Jiraiya, long time no see," the Third said, turning to face his student. "How many times do I have to tell you, come through the doo- Err... what happened to your face?" the Third sweat-dropped as he looked at a very, very, **very** battered up Jiraiya who was grinning happily. A wide range of colours of bruises covered the pervert's face. A bump here and a swell there. Missing a few teeth as well.

"My face? Oh it's nothing. I have just been in heaven and hell at the same time," Jiraiya replied, a bit too happy for someone who just got beaten up by a mob. "Anyway, I am here to say hi and I have a few questions on a kid."

"I assume you mean Yuki Hitsuka?" the Third asked.

"I don't know his name but I know what he looks like," Jiraiya said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"Tell me then," the Hokage sighed deeply.

"Okay. Well this boy looks around three or four. He has gold eyes and white hair and he..."

"That's Hitsuka," the Third cut in.

"The boy you said before? So Yuki Hitsuka is his name. Hmm..." Jiraiya murmured and fell deep in thought.

The Hokage waited for Jiraiya to voice his thoughts. When he realized that the man wasn't going to say anything, he coughed lightly, bring Jiraiya's attention back. "Because you have been away for quite some time so you won't have known this boy, so I'll tell you what I know about him." So the Hokage told Jiraiya basically what he told Kakashi weeks before.

At the end, the Third paused and pondered on his sudden idea. Making a decision, he turned towards Jiraiya. "I now have B ranked mission for you. Spy on Yuki Hitsuka and bring me any information that you have learnt. Report to me at the end of every week."

"Yes sir!" Jiraiya saluted then he asked, "Are you saying that this boy is not trustworthy?"

"No," the Hokage answered. "I'll trust my life in the hands of Yuki Hitsuka but my knowledge on him is very limited and I wish to know more."

The new mission and the limited information on Hitsuka had left Jiraiya deep in thought as he walked out of the office. A hand under his chin and a frown on his battered face has made him looked rather funny/scary/interesting/etc.

'I need to find more information on this boy Yuki Hitsuka,' Jiraiya thought. 'But before I spy on him, I need to go and get my handsome face fix up. Ow those women sure can punch but I have new ideas for my next book. Tee hee'

_Ichiraku, where Hitsuka and Naruto were having dinner_

"Ramen is good. I love ramen but I love Hitsuka more but I still love ramen. Ramen, ramen, ramen..." Naruto sang as he waited for his miso ramen to come. Hitsuka sweat-dropped a bit.

'I know that Naruto loves ramen in the manga and I know that the Naruto that I know loves ramen too. But... I never knew that Naruto will love ramen so much that he makes up songs that don't really make sense,' Hitsuka watched Naruto literally dove into the bowl of ramen that was placed in front of him. 'How can a three year old eat so much?' he wondered even though he ate just as much.

"Here's your beef ramen kid," the owner of Ichiraku said, placing Hitsuka's ramen in front of him.

"Thanks..." Hitsuka said and started to eat. 'But I can understand why Naruto loves Ichiraku's ramen so much.'

"Hitsuka" Naruto turned towards Hitsuka with his cute-but-deadly puppy dog eyes on. "Can I have another bowl?"

Without looking, Hitsuka knew that Naruto had already finished and had his attack on full force. 'Why resist? I always lose anyway,' Hitsuka thought, finishing his mouthful of noodle. "Excuse me," he said with his hand in the air, waving to get the owner's attention. "Can I please have another three bowls of miso ramen."

"Three miso ramen coming up."

"Whoopee! Thanks Hitsuka!" Naruto squealed, bouncing on his stool.

"Just don't eat so fast, you might get a stomach-ache," Hitsuka replied, finishing the last of his noodle. "Stay here and wait for your ramen," he told Naruto and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Just outside, I'll be back soon," Hitsuka said and pushed the low hanging flaps that hung at the entrance of Ichiraku. He walked out and stopped, feeling for something in the air. He suddenly looked at a stake of harmless boxes which were placed opposite to Ichiraku. "Hatake-san," Hitsuka said to the boxes, "you must be hungry for you have been following us non-stop since lunchtime. I have ordered a miso ramen for you so will you join us for dinner?"

The seemly harmless stake of boxes did not reply. Some passersby stopped and stared at Hitsuka. They thought this white haired boy was crazy. Until a body detached itself from the boxes, right in front of their shocked eyes (not including Hitsuka's, of course).

The body belongs to a teenager with silver hair. The sleeveless tank top revealed that this teenager had reached the rank of anbu, but the lack of anbu mask on his face showed that he was off duty. "Thank you for your invitation, I'll join you," Kakashi said, his voice slightly muffled because of the blue mask that covered the bottom half of his face.

Hitsuka gave a smile and lead Kakashi into Ichiraku where their miso ramen were waiting for them. Naruto looked up from his ramen and grinned at Hitsuka. He was a bit puzzled about the stranger but didn't care because he couldn't leave his ramen waiting for him.

Both Hitsuka and Kakashi sat down and started to eat. While they were eating, Kakashi's mind was full of questions. 'How did Hitsuka sense me? I had hidden my presence and I am an anbu captain which is saying a lot about my skills. I am not bragging but really, how did a three-year-old sense me when he hasn't even pass the genin rank! He knows that I have been following them since lunchtime. This boy is good. Hmm... ramen is good too.' Suddenly, Kakashi noticed that Hitsuka was staring at him with disappointed eyes. "Err... What?"

Hitsuka looked startled - being caught staring - and blushed lightly. "I... um... I just want to see what you look like under the mask. But you eat so fast that I didn't even get a glimpse," Hitsuka explained, slightly embarrassed.

"Is that why you invited me for dinner?" Kakashi asked, very amused.

"Yes. No! Err... maybe a bit," Hitsuka admitted and then muttered quietly, "For all these years I can never see his face. He has the stupid damn mask on even before he was ten. What's he got to hide anyway. Stupid."

Although Hitsuka had muttered quietly, Kakashi's keen ears from long time of training picked up what Hitsuka said. ''For all these years'? How old is this kid? He is not more than four that's for sure. But he sounded like he has been watching me for a long, long time, especially since he knows that I wore my mask before I was ten. I must report this to Hokage-sama.'

"Hatake-san." Hitsuka's voice broke through Kakashi's train of thoughts.

"Yes?"

"It's getting late and I have to go to school tomorrow so Naruto and I should go now," Hitsuka said, paying for their meal. Naruto hopped off his stool and waited for Hitsuka to do the same. They bid Kakashi goodbye and were leaving the place when Kakashi asked a question, "What's your name?"

Hitsuka turned back, his low ponytail flying behind him. "I am sure you already know that from Hokage-sama," he said with a smile and he disappeared into the night with Naruto.

Kakashi, like he had done weeks before, teleported into the Hokage's office to find the mighty leader of Konoha... quickly stuffing a suspicious-looking orange book inside a drawer. The Hokage gave a light cough, a faint blush staining his cheek, and looked at Kakashi.

"Err... What can I do for you Kakashi," the Hokage said.

"I've got some information on Yuki Hitsuka," Kakashi replied, eyes trained on the drawer that the book disappeared into.

The Hokage coughed again. "Please tell me what you found out."

"Oh right!" Kakashi threw another longing look at the drawer then proceeded to tell the Third what he learnt from that dinner.

After Kakashi finished his report, the Third laced his fingers together and place his chin on them. "To tell you the truth, I have just send Jiraiya to spy on Hitsuka this afternoon. I was planning to send you but it seems that Hitsuka can sense you. Maybe Jiraiya can do a better job," he sighed. "I hope Jiraiya can solve all these mysteries on this boy, Yuki Hitsuka."

"I shall take my leave now," Kakashi said and bowed.

"Yes. Go home and rest," the Third agreed.

Pausing at the door, Kakashi turned his head and asked, "Can I borrow the newest volume of the Icha Icha Paradise after you have finished?"

A pause. "You are not eighteen yet."

_A week before Hinata's birthday_

'I don't really care about the consequences now,' Hitsuka thought during his class with Iruka. 'In fact, to the hell with consequences. I've got to at least warn the Hyuuga.'

Both Hitsuka and Naruto had been invited to attend Hinata's small-just-family-and-friends birthday party including a sleepover. Naruto was excited and started to look for the perfect birthday present to give. Hitsuka already knew what to give.

While Hitsuka was thinking a way to give information to Hiashi and Hizashi, Iruka noticed that Hitsuka wasn't paying attention. A vein popped on his forehead. He drew back his arm and with his months of training, a chalk flew perfectly towards Hitsuka's head. Everything went into slow motion. Students turned their heads to watch the chalk. The chalk flew and flew. Just before striking Hitsuka, he moved his head aside and the chalk flew past, hitting the boy sitting behind him instead.

"OW!" the unfortunate boy cried out and the class burst out laughing.

'In my world, I was famous for dodging chalks thrown by angry teachers because I always fell asleep,' Hitsuka thought with a smirk. Iruka saw the smirk, with more veins popping, a dodge-chalks game started and everyone in the room participated, willingly or unwillingly.

"Madly flying chalks no jutsu!" Iruka yelled out jokingly, reaching for his stacks of chalks, aiming for Hitsuka which he dodged. More unfortunate students got hit but some succeeded in dodging too. When the bell signalled the end of the school for that day, Iruka had discovered that this game is great for letting out his stress. So while he was happy, Hitsuka supported a forehead that had a round white chalk mark on it.

'Err... I am out of shape,' he thought in despair, racing to the bathroom to wash it off. He then proceeded to walk towards the Hyuuga mansion where Naruto had stayed for the day. 'I'll tell them today.'

Hitsuka waved at the Hyuuga guard as he walked into the house. He arrived at the training area and found Hinata training with her father and Naruto and Neji having a hand-to-hand combat. Being a Hyuuga and older, Neji had won but not without some difficulty. The two boys turned their head when they heard clapping.

"Hitsuka!" Naruto yelled, bouncing to Hitsuka who laughed and then lifted him up into the air. Naruto was still short.

"You have improved in your taijutsu, Naruto," Hitsuka praised Naruto who laughed with delight. Hinata, who finished her training for the day, walked towards the three boys.

"Go-Good afternoon, Hi-Hitsuka-kun," she stuttered but getting better every day. With Naruto's influence, she started to stutter less.

"Good afternoon to you too, Hinata-san," Hitsuka said with a smile.

"Why don't you three go and have a bath," Hiashi said, following Hinata. "You kids are kind of dirty."

"Yeah! Let's have a water fight. Ne, Neji-nii-san, Hinata-chan," Naruto cried out, looking at the Hyuuga kids.

"Yeah sure," Neji agreed, rather excited.

"Err... Wha-What!" Hinata blushed, uncertain.

"Boys and girl separate!" Hiashi said in a low dangerous voice, eyes flashing and the blue sky went dark. Lightning flashing in the background and Naruto agreed in a trembling voice.

"Ye-Yes sir."

"Okay then, run along now children," said Hiashi and the sky instantly turned back to normal. When the two Hyuuga and one Uzumaki disappeared inside the house, Hitsuka burst out laughing.

"What!" Hiashi asked with a grin.

"You-You know wha-what," Hitsuka said breathlessly, clutching his stomach. He went on laughing for a while, finally stopped when Hiashi raised a fist. "Okay, okay," Hitsuka said, wiping a teardrop away. Suddenly, he turned all serious. "I need to talk to you and Hyuuga-san urgently, now, in private."

Hiashi understood the serious tone that the younger boy used, immediately sent a servant to get Hizashi. Soon, the two Hyuuga men and Hitsuka sat in the secret room.

"What is it that is so urgent," Hizashi asked once they made sure the door is locked.

Hitsuka looked down at his hands, and finally, after a few minutes of silence he started, "Remember the reliable source of information that I have told you before."

Both men nodded and Hitsuka continued, "Well this 'reliable source' has told me that the Cloud country is coming to Konoha on Hinata-san's birthday to sign a peace treaty and-"

"Err... Sorry to interrupt but you can find that out in the newspaper," Hiashi said, interrupting Hitsuka.

"But does the newspaper say that the peacemaking Shinobi Gashir is going to kidnap Hinata-san on that night?" Hitsuka asked wearily, bracing himself for the unavoidable questions.

"WHAT!" both men exclaimed and stood up at the same time.

"How did you know that?" Hiashi asked, worried about the safety of his daughter.

"From my reliable source," Hitsuka replied uncertainly.

"Who IS your reliable source?" it was Hizashi who asked this time. Both men were getting rather annoyed about this 'reliable source' that Hitsuka wasn't willing to share.

"Since when did I say it's a human," Hitsuka muttered, not realizing that he just gave the first clue.

The Hyuuga waited but soon discovered that Hitsuka wasn't going to say anything else so they filed the information away. 'So his 'reliable source' is an it.'

"If you don't want to tell us about it, that's fine."

'For now,' Hiashi thought, sitting down, then continued talking, "Can you please tell us what you know that might happen that night."

"Well, I know that Shinobi Gashir will be here in the morning and everyone will be out to celebrate the peace between Cloud and Leaf. Everyone except the Hyuuga family," Hitsuka started.

"Why won't the Hyuuga be there?" Hizashi asked, who was seated, testing Hitsuka on what he knew.

Hitsuka understood the reason behind the question replied, "Because it's Hinata-san's birthday and... it's also the day that Neji-san receive the curse seal." Hitsuka said the last bit quite reluctantly, after all, the date when a Hyuuga was going to get the curse seal was not a public knowledge. 'I hope they still trust me,' Hitsuka thought, looking down at his laps.

"I am actually... not surprise that you knew," Hiashi said, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Me neither," Hizashi agreed and he noticed the surprised look on Hitsuka's hopeful face. He smiled and teased, "What, you think that we will not trust you because of that?"

Hitsuka nodded and Hiashi also smiled. "You have given too much information that shouldn't be known to you so we are rather used to it. Do worry, we still trust you," he reassured Hitsuka who smiled back timidly.

"Thank you."

"Now, where were we," Hizashi said, bringing the topic back.

"Oh right," Hitsuka realized that he had stopped. "Umm... This is what might happen. Gashir will dress all in black, complete with a mask and kidnap Hinata-san at night. He'll be discovered and killed by Hyuuga-sama who doesn't know that it's Gashir because of the mask. Later, Cloud will find out that its shinobi is dead and demand for something or the peace treaty is off. Hokage-sama will be forced to agree to the demand and the treaty will be kept."

"Do you happen to know what the demand may be?" Hiashi asked, not quite sure that he wanted to know.

"Yes," Hitsuka paused, uncertain if he should continue. At the nod from both men, he sighed then continued, "The demand may be... the body of the leader from one of the most powerful clan in Konoha, the Hyuuga clan."

"What?" Hiashi couldn't believe what he just heard. Hizashi stared at his older brother.

"Yes, it's you, Hyuuga-sama. Your body is what they want," Hitsuka affirmed the doubt, making both men paled.

"So I will die..." Hiashi trailed off when Hitsuka shook his head in negative.

"No, you won't die. If it's your body they get they may find out the secret of the Hyuuga clan," Hitsuka told his two audiences.

"But you just said that Hokage-sama will agree to the demand," a puzzled Hizashi asked. "So if we don't give my brother's body, then how is Hokage-sama going to keep his end of the bargain?"

Hitsuka was silent for a few minutes. Both men waited. Finally decided to go on, the boy continued, "There is only a way to hold up our end of bargain and not give the Hyuuga secret away. It's the curse seal..."

"No..." Hiashi suddenly understand what Hitsuka was saying.

Hizashi was still a bit puzzled. "What is the curse seal got to do with this?" he asked.

"It has everything to do with this," Hitsuka explained. "The Hyuuga curse seal will only leave its owner once he or she dies, sealing up the ability of Byakugan. And since you, Hyuuga-san, you and Hyuuga-sama are twin brothers, your body will be presented to the Cloud."

"So I'll die for my brother," Hizashi said, shocked at what he just heard.

"No! I'll never let that happen," Hiashi told his brother whom he loved dearly.

"This is why I am here telling you all these," Hitsuka calmly said. "As long Hyuuga-sama doesn't kill Shinobi Gashir and we catch him in action, we can blackmail the Cloud instead. I have a plan that I would like to share..."

So they spent the rest of the night planning. The Hyuuga men agreed that Hitsuka's plan was good but they changed and debated over a few things. One of them was that the men thought that they should tell the others about this kidnap but Hitsuka wanted to keep how he got this knowledge secret. At the end Hitsuka won the reason being that if more people knew then the Cloud might have a wind of it. The Cloud could then pretended to be offended and demanded for something (coughHiashicough).

Now that Hitsuka finally told someone else and had people to back him up on the night, a weight had been lifted off from his heart. That night, Hiashi had invited them to stay much to Naruto and Hinata's delight. Neji was happy, too, once he found out that he could stay as well. 'One more week. Just one more week,' Hitsuka thought as he fell asleep between Naruto and Neji.

__

_The Hokage's office_

"What do you have for me this week," the Hokage asked, having a smoke on his pipe. "Jiraiya."

"Well sensei," Jiraiya started, coming out of the shadow. "I haven't found out much and I think that Hitsuka knows someone is following him."

"How? You are one of the best spies that Konoha can offer!"

"I don't think that he knows for sure but because he found Kakashi spying on him, he is a bit cautious," Jiraiya said, leaning against a wall.

"I am sorry," Kakashi apologized.

"It's not your fault. Because of you, we found out how good Hitsuka is at sensing people," the Third said, puffing on his pipe. "Please continue Jiraiya."

"Okay. Hitsuka is on a very good term with the Hyuuga Clan. Both Main and Branch," Jiraiya stopped, looking at his sensei.

"Explain."

"Yes sensei. He has free access into and out of the Hyuuga mansion and is friend with Hyuuga Hinata and Neji. I also saw him laughing at or with Hyuuga Hiashi this afternoon," Jiraiya explained.

"Really! Hitsuka really laughed at/with the ice cube!" asked a shocked Kakashi.

"Err... Yes, if you have to put it that way."

"Please keep going," the Third asked/commanded with a wave of his hand.

"Sure, I saw Hitsuka suddenly turned serious and Hiashi too, turned serious. Hiashi sent the servant to get someone and soon Hyuuga Hizashi came to meet them. I couldn't hear them and I didn't dare to follow further because the Hyuuga might sense me if Hitsuka didn't."

"You said this happened today?" the Hokage asked.

"Yes."

"Umm..." the old man started thinking and then inquired if that was all Jiraiya found out for that week.

"No, I found something strange. Often I would see a strange glow that would sometimes stay on for no more than ten minutes and sometimes more than an hour, coming for the two boys' bedroom. One thing in common is, there would only be a glow if it's at night, after Uzumaki Naruto had gone to sleep and always with the curtain closed."

"Please turn on the light, Jiraiya. You are not telling a ghost story. And put that torch away," the Hokage said with a mushroom sigh. Jiraiya pouted then went to do what he was told.

"So you are suggesting that Hitsuka is doing something that he doesn't want anyone else to find out?" Kakashi asked.

"YES!" Jiraiya shouted, pointing a finger at Kakashi's direction who sweat-dropped. "Hitsuka is definitely up to something. We should catch him and chuck him into the interrogation room with that sadist Morino Ibiki. Or we should-"

"Or we should leave Hitsuka alone and continue to watch," the Hokage cut in before Jiraiya could go on any further. "In fact I think this is enough spying on Hitsuka. For the past month you, Jiraiya, haven't found out too much information on him. I am not saying that you are not good. Maybe it's just that Hitsuka has nothing to be found out. We should leave him alone for now. Jiraiya, you have finished your mission. Jiraiya, Kakashi."

"Yes Hokage-sama," both men replied, standing up straight.

"You are dismissed," the old man said with another puff on his pipe. "Oh by the way," he suddenly said, before Jiraiya and Kakashi went out of the door. "Jiraiya, please don't eat so much sugar before giving me a report. You and sugar-high doesn't mix too well."

"Yes sensei."

* * *

(1) Just in case you don't know/understand. It was Hitsuka that had been talking and asking. Jiraiya was doing actions.

Wow (sits there rather dazed). Did I just type all that? This has to be the longest chapter that I have done so far. Please excuse any spelling mistake because I currently don't have spell-check.

**PLEASE REVIEW, YES I AM TALKING TO YOU SO PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW!**

I have turn back normal now. So umm... please review?

The title to the next chapter is... (drum roll)

is...

is...

Chapter 12! Yeah.


	12. Chapter 12

I am so sorry for the long wait everyone. I had to stay off from so I could concentrate. I had a few exams, a speech, a report and many, many other things that I had to do. That's why I couldn't update for such a long time. I wrote this long chapter and I hope you like it.

_Dragon Man 180: I am not quite sure if Hitsuka's plan is humiliating for Gashir and yes, Naruto will learn the next stages of Rasengan. Thanks for your review._

_Dan Inverse: Of course I'll write more, it's just that I don't have a lot of time. I am glad that you like reading my fic. Thanks._

_reighost: Yup I'll read your fic. In fact, I'll read it right now. Unfortunately, I am not sure about Naruto's father so that'll have to wait. May be one day… _

_DanInverse: Naruto and Hanabi? Hmm… I think I've seen it somewhere before. I am not sure but thanks for the suggestion._

_lilbunnyfufu: Love your speech. Sorry for not up-dating for such a long time. Jiraiya teaching Naruto Rasengan, I honestly don't know why I chose that jutsu but don't you think it's cool that Naru__to__ learnt it at such a young age? As for Hitsuka revealing too much, well, sometimes people make mistakes and I think it's funny for people to suspect him. Add a twist to the plot I will say. About the original jutsu, 'Madly flying chalks no jutsu' is done as a joke, like you said. It had no chakra involved and it was funny. Of course I'll not go overboard with original jutsu because I often found myself confused and lost reading those original things/jutsu/attack/etc. As for the Hyuuga, I just make them a little bit more trusting. To them, Hitsuka is a great kid with a lot of secrets. Kakashi, well, I had arranged him to be on a mission but Jiraiya is not, so watch out Hitsuka. And the Uchiha, unfortunately, they'll have to wait because of some other things that Hitsuka has to do. Just read this chapter._

_ranma hibiki: Heh, just read this chapter and you may find some answers to your question. Thanks for the review._

_no name: Unfortunately, I am not writing any romance, may be a little fluffs. But you are right about the brotherly love part. Thanks for the review._

_Virgil: My fic up in your Top 30 List! Now I'll have to work harder. _

_rurouniturtle: Really! You wish your fic is as original as mine? That's new. Thank you!_

_Arnoldstrife: Eh heh, sorry for not doing what you wish. I offer the next chapter as a gift._

_Rishan: Yup, Gaara is going to show up in next chapter. Don't worry. Thanks for the review._

_mizuru-chan: Sorry for the wait. Nope, the Third won't find out about the laptop but he'll find out about some other things. Read!_

_Night-Owl123: Thanks for the compliment. I agree, sugar, hmm…_

_Gaara The Sandwarrior: I am not sure about the 'torment' part but ever heard of a writer's block? Yeah that evil thing. No you are not being stupid about Naruto's chakra control. From the Hyuuga, at a young age they have to have good chakra control because of their Gentle Fist taijutsu and from Hitsuka, he read the manga so he knows the concept and the exercises. Thanks for the review! . _

_Stonebridge: Thanks!_

_joekool: I am sorry, I know my story is moving slowly but no, I can't do the time skip, especially when there is the Uchiha massacre. Thanks for the review._

_kawaiinezium: I agree. _

_ninfan: I hope it'll be great story in the future for you._

_mrasdfghj: Heh, this will be the longest chapter. Read!_

_Toki Mirage: Yeah! You think it's cool!_

_Chaosknight: Heh heh, sorry. Read this chapter, I hope you think it's good._

_Joice a.k.a. Europa: You like my Hitsuka? Thanks!_

_WitchSe7en: I don't know about Sasuke yet but your other question will be answered in this chapter. Thanks for the review._

_kageryuu: Heh heh, sorry about my verb tenses. I am very good with my English I guess. Thanks for the review._

_d4rkhunternin: Thanks for thinking its good! . _

_Dragon Noir: Thanks for the great review! Not sure about the future yet but please read the present now. _

_Yukito Yakata: I am sorry for not updating sooner. Here's the next chapter, hope you like it._

_BobBobums: I got the spell check so please don't hate me! Oo_

_ColdCypher: You love my fic? Thanks! No, Hitsuka's laptop won't get destroy if I have anything to say. _

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but I do own Yuki Hitsuka. Steal him, you're dead.

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

* * *

Chapter twelve 

It was Hinata's birthday, and like all the branch Hyuuga before him, Neji was going to receive his curse seal. Because of the other Hyuuga around them, Hiashi and Hizashi couldn't be friendly to each other, nor could they openly support Neji.

Neji, who knew what was going to happen, kept silent. The night before, his father had told him everything. He was scared but he knew this had to be done. 'At least it's for Hinata-chan, no, Hinata-sama,' he thought.

"Hinata-sama is already three, congratulation," Hizashi said with no emotion. Not like the man who would joke and make Hinata laugh.

"Yeah…" Hiashi said, equally emotionless. His daughter clutched on to his kimono and hid behind him. Hinata, at the age of three, already had a few ideas on the Main and Branch families problems. She, too, was told what would happen that day, so she acted all shy towards Neji, whom she should have never met before.

"Well… I'll take Neji now, Hizashi…" Hiashi told his brother, his voice meant business.

"Yes…" Hizashi replied, looking at the head of the clan. He watched as his son walked away with his big brother and let out a shaky breathe.

Then he heard a Hyuuga from the Brach family whispered to another Hyuuga, "Poor Hizashi-sama. Having his only son taken away to put the curse seal on. I hate those Main family Hyuuga!"

Around three months ago, Hizashi would have agreed with the man but now, he realized, he didn't hate the Main family that much anymore. His hate for his brother was completely gone. 'Thank you Hitsuka…'

_In a corridor, where Hiashi, Neji and other Main family Hyuuga were_

"You can go now," Hiashi commanded. The other Hyuuga looked at each other uncertainly.

"But Hyuuga-sama…" one began but Hiashi cut him off.

"No buts! I can do this on my own."

"Yes, Hyuuga-sama…" The Hyuuga backed away, leaving Hiashi and Neji behind.

"Why did you send them away? What's with the secrecy, Uncle?" Neji asked as soon as the others were out of the earshot. "Am I… Am I not going to get the seal?"

Hearing the hopeful voice, Hiashi winced inwardly. He shook his head and answered apologetically, "No, I am sorry for doing this to you, Neji. But, it has to be done. As for the secrecy, someone who is not a Hyuuga is going to attend the ceremony."

From the shadows, a body detached itself. Neji eyes widened with recognition and ran up to the boy he knew so well. "Hitsuka!"

Hitsuka patted the white-eyed boy's back with a hand. His other arm was pinned against his side because Neji was hugging him rather tightly. "Hey..." He noticed that Neji was shaking lightly. 'I would too if I am the one that is going through all these. From the manga, Sasuke was having a lot of pain when Orochimaru put the curse seal on. If it's the same with the Hyuuga's, all I can do is to be with Neji and watch,' he thought sadly.

"I am scared," Neji whispered into Hitsuka's ear.

"Don't worry, I'll be there with you," Hitsuka replied, giving the frighten boy as much comfort as he could.

"Come," Hiashi said quietly, opening a door that leaded to a dark room. Neji moved away from Hitsuka and followed the man. Soon, Hitsuka was all alone in the corridor with his thoughts only.

'I am watching this curse seal ceremony because may be in the future I can find a way to reverse the seal. I hope, no, I have to find a way. The fear in Neji's eyes… he has only showed it to me. He trusts me so much… I don't want to see anyone like that again..." With his new goal, he walked into the dark room.

_Later that day, at Hinata's birthday party_

"…Happy birthday dear Hinata-chan/-san/-sama! Happy birthday to you!" Everyone cheered at the end of the song as Hinata shyly blew out of the candles on the cake. Someone hurried to turn the light on, leaving everyone in the room blinking to make the spots in their eyes to go away.

"Present time!" Naruto yelled, rushing to give his gift first. "I picked it myself!" Naruto said proudly.

"Yeah and I paid for it," Hitsuka muttered. Hizashi, who overheard with Hitsuka said, chuckled.

Naruto stood next to Hinata and handed his gift to her. "Happy birthday Hinata-chan."

"Th-Thank you, Naruto-kun," Hinata said and started to unwrap the orange wrapping-paper, soon revealing an orange fox doll. "It-It's so cute!" With that, she gave Naruto a quick hug then went back to be a tomato.

"Heh, heh," Naruto laughed quietly, scratching the back of his neck. A light blush stained his face.

The cute little boy didn't notice the glares that the birthday girl's father was giving him. 'It was nothing. Only a friendly hug. It was nothing. My daughter is still young… too young to like boys…' Hiashi thought quietly to himself while suppressing his blood lust. 'It was nothing…'

"Worrying for your daughter?" Hitsuka's voice cut into Hiashi's thoughts. The men looked down to see the golden eyes of the boy. "Are you? Hyuuga-sama."

"No," Hiashi lied, his face showed no emotion.

"Really?" Hitsuka chuckled and left the worrying father. He turned and looked at Hinata unwrapping more presents. He made a list of what was given and who gave it.

Naruto: an orange fox doll

Neji: a large box of Hinata's favourite sweets

Hizashi: a blue ball (Hinata lost her ball few weeks ago)

Iyo: a red kimono with the pattern of sakura petals

Hiashi: a beautiful purple necklace

'She has got some nice presents from the people closest to her,' Hitsuka thought. 'But something seems to be missing…'

"Hitsuka! Wake up!" Naruto yelled, bouncing up to the said boy. "Your present!"

"What? Oh right." Hitsuka blushed lightly as everyone else laughed. "Umm… here's your present, Hinata-san," he said, handing a beautiful wrapt gift over to Hinata.

Hinata unwrapped it, careful so she wouldn't rip the paper. Everyone leaned in to look at the last gift. It was a book. A book on healing. A slight confusion was on people's faces except Hitsuka.

"What…?" Hinata asked, not finishing her question. She knew that she wanted the book and to learn about healing. But she was also taught that she would be an heiress. As the heiress of the Hyuuga clan, she didn't need to know about healing. Or, did she?

"Hinata-san, you have the potential of being a great kunoichi," Hitsuka started, explaining his gift. "You can be strong but it is not your nature to hurt someone else. When you hurt someone, you're hurting yourself too. But healing brings relief to people and you have a kind heart to do it. You can heal your comrades on the battlefield and have the skills to not get killed. So being strong doesn't have to mean who has the most power. Being strong can also mean protecting your love ones, friends, comrades and your home." He grinned. "So you can start practicing on Naruto, Neji-san and me!"

Everyone in the room looked at Hitsuka after he finished his speech, making the boy blush in embarrassment. Suddenly, Hinata hugged the boy like she hugged Naruto but not letting go until she said her thanks. "Thank you…"

"Hitsuka…" Hiashi whispered, slightly shocked at what the boy said. 'What he said is right,' he thought. 'I should change the way I think. Being strong doesn't have to mean how many people one can kill. It can also mean how many people one can save.'

"Who's up for the cake?" Iyo suddenly said with a clap of her hands. A whoop from the kids and the book on healing was temporarily forgotten. At one stage, Hinata went up to Neji and gave him a hug. Neji was confused until he heard what Hinata said.

"I am so-sorry, Neji-nii-san. Be-Because of me you have to get hu-hurt. Do-Does your forehead hurt?"

Neji, touched by Hinata's kindness, returned the hug. "No, Hinata-sama, it doesn't hurt anymore. Thank you for your concern."

Hinata blushed brightly and replied, "Th-That's good. Bu-But don't call me Hinata-sa-sama. Call me Hi-Hinata-chan like before."

"Okay, Hinata-chan," Neji said with a smile and they joined the party again. Everyone had fun until the children (except Hitsuka) were nodding their heads in exhaustion. The adults and Hitsuka laughed lightly as they watched the three children fell asleep. "I think it's time for them to go to bed," Hizashi said, picking Neji up.

"Yes, I agree," Hiashi replied, picking his daughter up too.

"Yeah," Hitsuka grunted as he shifted Naruto on his back.

"I'll leave you guys to take them to Hinata-chan's room," Iyo said, wiping the table. "Good night."

"Good night dear/Iyo-san."

As they walked down the corridor, Hitsuka broke the silence. "I hope you've prepared everything."

"Don't worry, it'll be fine," Hiashi replied, reassuring the boy.

"Yeah, we'll catch him!" Hizashi agreed with a grin.

Hitsuka couldn't help but grinned too. "Yeah…"

Soon, they reached Hinata's room and they placed the children on the already prepared mattresses. Hiashi knelt over his daughter, doing hand seals to place a genjutsu on her. A hand stopped his hands. "What's wrong?" Hiashi asked Hitsuka, the owner of the hand.

"I think I felt something… I'm not sure…" Hitsuka replied uncertainly. "Umm… Can one of you use Byakugan and check?"

"Sure," Hizashi said and instantly turned on his Byakugan thus giving him 360 degrees of view. "I can see something outside the wall of Hyuuga mansion, right beside this room."

"Can you tell who it is?" Hitsuka asked, watching Hiashi also turning on his bloodline. 'This was not in the manga!'

Both men's eyes focused on one point and Hizashi answered the question, "Yes, it's Jiraiya-sama."

'Jiraiya? What is he doing here?' Hitsuka thought and said, "Let's go and meet him."

So the two men and one boy walked out of the room. Hizashi slid shut the paper door quietly behind them. They walked into the garden and Hiashi's voice rang out, "Jiraiya-sama, please join us on this beautiful night."

They heard some shuffles and quiet curses before a man jumped over the wall and land quietly. "Heh, heh, I knew I can't hide from you, Hiashi-sama, Hizashi-san," Jiraiya said, scratching the base of his neck.

"No," Hizashi denied, "It wasn't us. It was Hitsuka who first felt your presence."

"What?" Jiraiya exclaimed. 'I am losing my touch.'

Hitsuka walked up to Jiraiya, who was muttering how he should retire and that wasn't such a bad idea because he could peek everyday but he had been doing that a lot anyways so what was the point of retiring… Anyways, Hitsuka interrupt the muttering with a question, "Care to explain why you are here at such late hour? Jiraiya-sama."

"None of your business," Jiraiya replied, sticking his tongue out. Such a childish behaviour, and in front of the leader of the Hyuuga Clan too!

"It's my business," Hiashi said, stepping up to stand next to Hitsuka.

'So Hiashi thinks that Hitsuka is on the same ground as him. Hmm… interesting…' Jiraiya pondered for a few seconds until a rather annoyed Hyuuga repeated what he just said. "Fine. I am spying on Yuki Hitsuka."

"Why?" Hitsuka asked, worried what Jiraiya might have found out.

"Because I wanted to."

'Even though my mission had ended but I still find this boy interesting,' Jiraiya thought.

The three other males knew that Jiraiya wasn't going to say anything else so they relaxed their bodies. Hitsuka sighed and made his mind up. "Jiraiya-sama," he started, catching the man's attention. "Can you please go and inform Hokage-sama that there will be someone who is going to try and kidnap Hyuuga Hinata tonight."

"Huh?" Jiraiya said intelligently. "Are you sure? Can I trust you?"

"Jiraiya-sama, I am sure what Hitsuka said is true," Hiashi told the Jiraiya. "I'll trust Hitsuka with my life."

"Hyuuga-sama!" Hitsuka exclaimed, blushing madly.

"I will too," Hizashi agreed with his brother.

"Hyuuga-san! Not you too!"

'They said the same thing with sensei!' Jiraiya thought in surprise. He reluctantly said, "Fine I'll go and tell sensei this piece of information now. I assume you want help?"

"Yes and no," Hitsuka answered.

"… What kind of answer is that?"

"A right one. Anyways, what I mean is that I don't what anyone else other than Hokage-sama and… you to come and help."

"Why not anyone else?" the three adults asked at the same time.

"Because… umm…"

'I haven't thought of a reason yet! I can't tell them because I don't want anyone to see me as part of my plan will make me very embarrassing!' Hitsuka thought in slight panic, trying to think up an excuse. "Umm… because the more people there are, the more mistakes there might be!"

"What about the anbu? They're good," Jiraiya suggested.

"No!"

'Kakashi might see me!'

The Hyuuga men were confused as to why Hitsuka didn't want more help. They thought of every possible reason. Something in their brains clicked. 'Oh so that's why,' understanding dawned on their faces.

"Jiraiya-sama, please do what Hitsuka said," Hiashi said to the man.

"Fine, fine, fine. I'll leave now." With that, Jiraiya poof-ed away.

Hitsuka sighed in relief. "Thanks for the support, Hyuuga-sama, Hyuuga-san."

"No worries, we understand," Hizashi replied for both him and his brother.

A slight horror fixed itself on Hitsuka's face. "You-You understand? Oh no!"

"Oh yes. Now get into Hinata's kimono," Hiashi said firmly.

"I can just do a Henge…"

"We have gone through this. You'll waste too much chakra if you do Henge with kimono as well," Hizashi said with a smile. "Just admit it; you have to dress up like a girl."

"No! I am not a cross dresser!" Hitsuka wailed quietly into his hands. 'Why couldn't I just simply agree to what Hizashi said a few nights ago,' he groaned in his mind.

_Flash Back _

"So we all agreed that one of us will do Henge and take Hinata's place," Hiashi said.

"I volunteer to take the place," Hitsuka said and two pairs of wide eyes looked at him.

"No! I'll not allow you to do that. It's too dangerous and you might die," Hizashi said firmly. "I'll do it. For my brother's daughter."

"Brother…" Hiashi whispered, happy that his little brother loved him enough to endanger himself. "I agree with Hizashi."

"Tell me, what is Henge no jutsu," Hitsuka asked.

Both brothers were confused at the sudden change of topic but Hiashi explained anyway, "Henge no jutsu is very useful and can be used in many different situations. It changes the user's look into another person, plant, thing, weapon, etc."

"What about the weight of the user?"

"What about it?" Hizashi asked, still confused.

"Does Henge change the weight of the user? If you, Hyuuga-san, transform into Hinata-san, Gashir will certainly get a shock when he pick up the heavy Hinata-san, no offence to you," Hitsuka apologised to Hizashi.

"No offence taken," Hizashi murmured, thinking over what Hitsuka just said.

"You are right," Hiashi painfully admitted. "You'll have to do it."

_Flash Back Ends _

'Me and my big mouth,' Hitsuka thought. He reluctantly went back to the room and put on Hinata's kimono. He lied on the last mattress and did some hand seals. "Henge," he whispered, transforming into Hinata. He watched Hiashi put Henge on Hinata so she would look like him.

"Sleep well," Hizashi said, leaving the room with his brother.

'This is going to be a long night…' Hitsuka thought and sighed again.

_Later that night _

A shadow moved quietly as it crept along the wall. The paper door slid open silently, revealing four sleeping children. It moved its eyes quickly, looking for the one it wanted. There! Hyuuga Hinata sleeping peacefully.

'Soon she'll be screaming for mercy,' Gashir thought as he went to pick the girl up. He took one last glance at the other sleeping figures and noticed the other Hyuuga kid. 'Another Hyuuga! Well, one more kid won't hurt.' With this thought, Gashir whispered quietly into the headset on his head, "Come in, we'll take two Hyuuga tonight."

Soon another shadow stepped into the room and picked up Neji. Both men nodded to each other and left the mansion.

'Ow… dangling here isn't doing too good with my stomach. How can the Hinata in the manga not wake up?' Hitsuka mentally groaned, limbs flipping around. He intentionally whacked his foot into the kidnapper's thigh and was slightly satisfied. 'No! This is not the problem right now. In fact there are a few problems.

'Problem 1: There are two people.

'Problem 2: Neji is taken as well.

'Problem 3: The plan has to be change. I can't use Kawarimi to swap myself with a log full of explosion tags. Gashir is strong so he won't get killed but Neji might get hurt.

'Problem 4: I'm dressed up as a freaking girl!'

Gashir landed on a building's roof, thinking this whole kidnap thing was too easy. 'Those fools. They'll never suspect us for we just signed the treaty. Ha!' he thought in triumph as he took another jump. He suddenly felt a slight movement from the kid he was holding on to. "Wha…?"

A bright flash temporarily blinded Gashir and his partner's eyes. They landed on a deserted road and leaned against each other, back to back. They knew the bright light would attract someone. Gashir lifted the girl up and looked straight into the Hyuuga's lavender-white eyes. "Smart move. Very smart," he told the girl and slapped her face, hard enough for a trail of blood to flow from her mouth. He stared as the girl's feature seemed to flicker but returned to normal again. 'Must be the flash,' he thought. He was wrong.

"Don't move! You are surrounded," a voice rang out from above them. Gashir looked up to see…

'Shit! Is that Hyuuga Hiashi?' Gashir thought in slight panic.

"Release the children and we'll let you live," said another voice in front of him. It was Jiraiya.

'One the Legendary Three?' Gashir was glad for the mask that was hiding the fear on his face. He managed to speak with no trace of fear in his voice, "I think not. How about, you let us go, with the brats and they live?" He brought a kunai up to Hinata's throat and his partner did the same to Neji who was awaked now.

"You know you can't escape," Hiashi told the man. He was very worried about Hitsuka and Neji but his face didn't show it.

"Oh really?" Gashir smirked under his mask.

"Really," another new voice said firmly. It was Hizashi.

'WTF! I thought the plan was going smoothly. They seem to know what's going to happen today!' Gashir thought, looking everywhere. His eyes focused on a small figure coming towards them.

"No! Naruto. Go back!" Hiashi yelled when he saw Naruto walking towards them. 'How did the boy find out?'

"Neji-nii-san! Hinata-chan!" Naruto was horrified to see his friends in danger. A voice in his head had directed him to here and this was what he saw. A kunai at both of his friends' necks. Anger, worry, fear, and many other emotions built up in his chest. "Let them go!" he yelled.

The captors of his friends only snorted. Tear started to slide down his cheek and he locked eyes with Hinata. No. Hinata was Hitsuka! Hitsuka's eyes told him that it was him, not Hinata. "Run," Hitsuka said in Hinata's voice, telling him to run and hide.

He almost did when he saw the trail of blood on Hitsuka's face. Memories started to flash in front of his eyes. Hitsuka saving him the first time, Hitsuka giving him a bath, Hitsuka talking, Hitsuka all battered up because of him, Hitsuka… 'NO! I will not run! I have to save Hitsuka and Neji-nii-san! But I am not strong enough…'

**I'll help you…**

A deep voice said inside Naruto's head. "What?" he exclaimed, looking around.

**I am talking inside your head. You can talk to me by thinking. Don't need to yell.**

'Who are you?'

**Questions later. You have to save your friends, don't you?**

'Of course! But how?'

**I'll lend you power…**

With that, Naruto suddenly felt chakra running through his body. His canine teeth grew longer and sharper. Same with his nails. A low growl rumbled in his throat and dropped on all fours like an animal. Chakra gave him strength to fight and save his friend. 'I'll save you…'

Gashir stared at the seemly harmless boy now transforming into some kind of wild animal. He was horrified. 'This night is just getting worse and worse.'

The Konoha ninja flinched when they felt the chakra they haven't felt in three year. 'Is the seal broken?' was the thought running through their head.

"Naruto/Naruto-kun! NO!" two of the same voices rang out form two different place. The real Hinata ran up to Naruto, panting. Naruto paused and looked at both Hitsuka and Hinata.

Hitsuka said, "Naruto, don't come to save me."

"Bu-But…" Naruto stuttered. 'Why not?'

"I'll be fine! Protect her instead," Hitsuka yelled with a commanding tone. Naruto obeyed and ran to place himself in front of Hinata.

Gashir was confused. 'That brat should be in my arms, so why is she there? Are there two Hyuuga Hinata? This is not on the report?' He unconsciously tightened his arms and made a decision. Capture both Hyuuga Hinata and figured out the problems later. He did a swift calculation and figured out that he could get to the other Hinata before the Konoha ninja catch him. So, with a mighty leap, he flew down the street towards his targets. His partner followed him closely as back up.

Hitsuka was terrified for the safety of his friends. 'NO! NO! NO! Naruto can't protect Hinata! Even with Kyuubi giving his power, Naruto doesn't know enough to use it wisely. I have to do something! I HAVE TO! SOMEONE HELP ME!'

Suddenly, time seemed to stop in front of Hitsuka's eyes. Nothing was moving. He could see Hiashi, Hizashi and Jiraiya running to stop Gashir. They were in midair, like Gashir and his partner. And Naruto was standing in front of Hinata, flashing his teeth and claws. 'What is happening?'

-You are in your own mind where time does not exist if you want.-

'Who's there!?' Hitsuka was freaked out when he heard a voice in his head. A familiar voice though.

The voice laughed. -You know me. Let's see each other face to face.-

'Wha-?' Before Hitsuka could finish his thought, a force seemed to have pulled him to the back of his mind. He fell unconscious.

When he woke up, he was in a corridor with cream-colored walls. 'What the hell?'

-Come. I am here.-

"Where's here," Hitsuka grumbled but followed the voice. He arrived in front of a door with the word 'Sight' on it. 'Is this what I think it is? Then, damn, my mind is so simple!' he thought before pushing the door open. There in front of him was a large TV screen-like thing. On the screen, he could see the world around his body. "What is this!"

"This is what your eyes are seeing right now in your body." Hitsuka whirled around and came face to face with…

… his 22 years-old-looking brother. "Ni-nii-chan?" Hitsuka asked, couldn't believe his eyes.

"What? No hugs for me? I'm hurt," Hitsuka's brother said with a pout.

"Is it really you?"

-Duh, who else can I be? Do you want me to do an introduction? Hi, my name is Yuki Shion, the brother of Yuki Hitsu- before he could finish, his arms were filled with a very little, crying Hitsuka. -There, there, don't cry,- He tried to calm his brother down by hugging back and patting the boy's back.

"I-I am so glad to see you," Hitsuka told Shion, rubbing his eyes.

-And I am too,- Shion smiled and held Hitsuka up. -It's been thirteen years since I last saw you this small. And you are dressed up like a girl! You are so cute!- he squealed, making his brother blushed and squirmed.

"Shin-chan! Don't tease me!" Hitsuka huffed, using his nickname for his brother. "I'm not saying that I am not happy to see you, because I am, and if what you said is true, then what are you doing inside of my head?"

-Well, let's sit down and I'll explain everything to you,- Shion said, all jokes gone, and gestured towards some couches in front of the screen. When they sat down, he started explain, -First of all, I am what you can call a ghost, a soul or a spirit. When I died, I found myself in here, this room, watching what you are doing at school. At first I didn't know what happened and when I called to you, you didn't notice or hear me. So basically I've been living inside your head for six years.-

"But why couldn't I hear you before?" Hitsuka asked, rather surprised that his brother was with him all the time.

-I… honestly don't know,- Shion admitted. -I can 'hear' you when you think and I can 'watch' what you see and like I said before, you can't hear me. But, when you screamed for help in your mind, I felt a connection, then I could talk to you since.-

"Great…" Hitsuka said slowly. "So I have a spirit/ghost, who is my brother, stuck inside my mind who pulled me into my head in a middle of a fight/kidnap attempt and the kidnaper will hurt Naruto in order to get Hinata then he will have two hostages and if including Neji he will have three hostage, and to start from the very beginning, somehow I was transported into Naruto World when I was studying for my exams and then I discovered my chakra which was somehow sealed up in the first place and then-"

-Stop! Stop! You are rambling,- Shion exclaimed, amazed at how much his brother could say in one breath. -You are not making a lot of sense with all that conjunctions and time skips. But you are right about your chakra.-

"Huh?" Hitsuka stared at his brother; head tilted to the side, looking very much like a cat. "Care to explain?"

-Of course, this will take awhile.-

"Don't worry. You said here in my mind, time doesn't exist," Hitsuka said, making himself comfortable in his couch.

-Yes you are right.- Shion sighed, what he was going to say might hurt his brother and make the boy not trust him any more. –Hitsuka, you were adopted.-

"What? Sto-Stop joking, Shin-chan," Hitsuka tried to laugh at the not funny joke but his brother's serious face told him it was true. "I was?"

It pained Shion to see his brother like this but it had to be done. -Yes Hitsu-chan, we are not related by blood, but I'll always be your brother no matter what!-

"You be-better," Hitsuka said as a smile spread across his tearstained face.

-Yeah. You know, that's why you look nothing like me,- Shion grinned, relieved that Hitsuka still saw him as a brother. -I'll tell you as much as I can remember. When I was fourteen, mum and dad brought you back home. They said that they had adopted you. You were a tiny baby with a tuff white hair and gold eyes. I thought you were a weird baby. Mum and dad wouldn't tell where you came from and I still don't know now but, what I know is that their work was kept in secret and their death was not an accident. I have a feeling that you were related to their work.

-When you were little, you stood out like a beacon in the night with your hair and eyes. But that was not all. You have… unusual power. Not like telepathy or magic. Just… power. The best word to describe that power, I suppose, is chi or chakra.-

"You mean… the chakra that I use in jutsu now? The life source of our bodies?" Hitsuka asked, taking in all the information.

-Yes. If what I have read in Naruto manga and seen through your eyes are true, then you had the amount of chakra that could rival a chuunin when you were little.

-Mum, dad, and I all knew you were special and dangerous as well. You didn't know how to handle your chakra-

Shion was interrupted by Hitsuka. "How come I can't remember any of these? Why was my chakra sealed?"

-I was getting to that.- Shion paused. -Can you remember anything before you were six?-

"Of course I… I… I don't," Hitsuka was shocked that he couldn't remember anything. Not a single thing! "Di-Did I lose my memory?"

-No… you didn't. You sealed up your own memories along with your chakra,- Shion said gently, watching his brother's reaction.

"Wh-Why?" Hitsuka dreaded the answer but he had to know. For Naruto.

Shion sighed and answered, -One day, when you were five, your chakra suddenly went wild. Usually, mum and dad would have methods to calm your chakra but they weren't there that day. Your… your chakra nearly killed a boy. You were covered with so much blood! You stood there, not moving an inch. Then you screamed. I can still remember the way you screamed. It was like listening to an injured animal. After awhile you fell unconscious.

-When you woke up, you had no memories of what happened and your life before. You only remembered about us, your family.-

Silent filled the room. Hitsuka's mind sorted through all the information and it was like a door opened and let the light in, memories started to rush back into his head. The primary school, the cold stared, the jabs from the kids, mum, dad, Onii-chan, the boy, the blood, the body, the scream…

"Ah!" Hitsuka gasped as the flood of memories finished. With another gasped, he felt a surge of chakra running through him. 'It burns!' Shion covered his eyes as light erupted from the small body of Hitsuka.

When the light fade away, leaving a dazed looking Hitsuka behind. -Wow, what was that?- Shion asked, standing up to check his brother.

"It was my chakra," Hitsuka replied, feeling fresh and strong. "I've got all my chakra back!"

-That's great!- Shion cried.

"But…"

-But what? Are you hurt?- the older of the two questioned.

"But it comes with a price. I remembered everything. Everything…" Hitsuka's eyes took a faraway look. "Everything…" he repeated.

-Oh Hitsu-chan,- Shion said gently, drawing his brother into his embrace. -I won't tell you to forget the past, but live on. Don't let the past haunt you. Live on because you have people to protect now.-

"Yes. I have to protect Naruto, Hinata and Neji. They need help," Hitsuka slowly pushed himself away from the couch and Shion. "Shin-chan, I have to go now."

-Yes, you do.- In front of Hitsuka's eyes, Shion started to fade from the feet.

"Shin-chan!"

-No, don't worry,- Shion held up his hands with a reassuring smile. -I am not going anywhere, well I don't think I am. I used up all my energy to pull you in so I am going to sleep now. Don't worry,- he repeated, seeing the worried look on Hitsuka's face. -I'll still be here, in your heart, in your mind. We'll find a way for you to come back. The Naruto in the manga did it didn't he?-

"Yeah…" Hitsuka grinned. "I'll find a way but now, I have to go. Bye Shin-chan."

-Bye Hitsu-chan.- With one last parting smile, Hitsuka imagined him moving his body. He felt a pull then he was gone from Shion's view.

'It was nice seeing my brother again,' Shion thought and disappeared completely too.

_Back to where people are, still floating in the air_

Gashir smirked as he drew closer to the two children. 'The boy is freaky but I am sure I can take him.'

'No, not fast enough!' the Konoha ninja and the Hokage thought. The Hokage had joined the fight when Gashir made a dash towards Naruto and Hinata.

Suddenly, a burst of chakra erupted from the 'girl' in Gashir's hold. Gashir was knocked off from his feet and flew towards his partner. His partner, stopped in order no to crash with his leader, loosened his hold on Neji. Neji seized this chance and did his family taijutsu, Gentle Fist, if not a bit clumsy. But he managed to make the man doubled over in pain. He escaped and ran to where Naruto and Hinata were.

"Neji-nii-san!" two voices rang as the said boy positioned himself beside Naruto to protect Hinata.

Gashir did a flip and landed perfectly on both of his feet, his back faced the wall. In front of him, still surrounded by blue chakra and still wearing the same kimono, but a different kid. This kid had long white hair and gold eyes and was producing a large amount of chakra.

'From my chakra expansion before, I felt ninja coming. I don't want to be seen,' Hitsuka thought as he pulled a small ball from the inside of the kimono. 'I'll have to do this quick.' He threw the ball and smoke instantly surrounded the area. Leaving only Hiashi and Hizashi to be able to see with their Byakugan.

"Hiashi, tell me what's happening," the Third commanded when he landed next to Hiashi.

"Yes sir. Hitsuka is producing a large amount of chakra and is currently in front of the kidnaper. The kidnaper is going to use a jutsu!" Hiashi was readied to jump in when he saw Hitsuka took care of the guy.

With chakra to boost his speed and strength, Hitsuka seemed to just appear in front of Gashir and punched him in the stomach. Blood flew out from the man's mouth then fell forward, unconscious.

A few seconds later, Hitsuka appeared in front of Third and Hiashi, with both Gashir and his partner tied up nicely. Third, already heard what had happened from Hiashi, said, "Great job."

Hitsuka waited to be dismissed. The smoke was fading quite fast and if he didn't leave soon, others would see him. "I have question that I want to ask you…" He heard the Hokage said.

'NO! Not now, old man. I've got to go!' Hitsuka wailed in his mind.

"But… in your current state, I'll leave the questions until morning. You are dismissed."

'Really! Yes! But what does he meant by 'your current state'? No he understood my nightmare! Gotta go. Gotta leave now.' Hitsuka bowed and was readied to jump away when he heard the Third's voice.

"Meet me in my office at ten o'clock, sharp." His voice left no room to argue.

"Yes Hokage-sama. Good night." With that, Hitsuka ran to his friends to take them back to the Hyuuga mansion.

_In the morning, outside of the Hokage Head Quarter_

'I need sleep,' Hitsuka thought as he walked zombie style towards the Third's office. He was wearing his own cloth now, the black kimono and a pair of black zori sandals on his feet. After he got the kids back to the mansion, questions started to fly at him like bazookas. He avoided every bazooka and finally, when the kids understood that he would say nothing, they fell asleep. By then, it was already seven in the morning.

'I REALLY need sleep.' Hitsuka groaned lightly, seeing the stairs that he had to climb. 'Let me die…'

"Huff! Huff!" After around seven flights of stairs, Hitsuka was welcoming death. 'This won't have been a problem if I actually get any sleep and not running around in the middle of night and have my taller body,' he thought then cried out, "Argh!" He flopped down to sit. "I'll be late."

"Do you need help?" a voice asked.

Hitsuka craned his neck back and an up side down Kakashi came into his view. "Hatake-san that will be well appreciated."

So Kakashi bent down and easily lifted Hitsuka up. With a 'poof', they disappeared, leaving smoke behind.

They appeared in front of the Hokage with a burst of smoke. "Right on time, Hitsuka," the Third, puffing on his pipe.

"Hokage-sama," Hitsuka and Kakashi said, bowing at the same time, after Kakashi put Hitsuka down of course.

Hitsuka took a look around the office and made a list of people that were presented with a comment on each one of them on what he thought of them.

Jiraiya- a stupid but powerful pervert

Hiashi- meanie, could have taken me with him to this meeting

Hizashi- same with his brother, a meanie

Ibiki- a sadist, probably here to torture me

Kakashi- a smart, genius pervert

Hokage- a very powerful pervert

Of course he didn't say these comments out loud. He didn't have a death wish. He sighed. 'This doesn't look to good for me.'

"Please sit down," the Hokage said, gesturing to the only chair in the room, excluding the one that he was sitting on.

'It is me or does that chair looks like it has electricity running through it?' Hitsuka thought but sat down anyways.

"I have some questions that I want to be answered. This meeting has been postponed for far too long," the Third said, placing his laced fingers in front of his face, elbows on the table. "Let's begin, shall we."

"I won't answer any questions if you don't agree to my four conditions," Hitsuka said bravely.

"What! You little ungrateful brat," Jiraiya said, walking towards Hitsuka. He was told to stop by his sensei.

"Hokage-sama, why not let me do 'my things' with this brat?" Ibiki asked, quite excited.

"No, it's fine. Let's hear the conditions," the Third said, looking straight into Hitsuka's eyes.

Hitsuka let out the breath he was holding on to. "Right. First condition, if what I say doesn't please you and you send me away or kill me, you have to take care of Uzumaki Naruto. Not like the way he was taken care of before I came along.

"Second condition, I will tell you as much as I want. Don't force me to say anything else if I don't want to. But I will tell the truth.

"Third condition, I wish only Hokage-sama, Jiraiya-sama, Hyuuga-sama and Hyuuga-san to hear what I'll say. No one else.

"Last condition…" Hitsuka paused.

"Yes the last condition?" the Third enquired.

"Last condition, before we begin, I must have a cup of strong black coffee," Hitsuka finished, blushing lightly.

"What if I don't agree?" the Hokage asked, hiding a smile behind his hands. 'So he still thinks about Naruto at this kind of circumstance.'

Hitsuka pulled out a small black ball and answered, "I'll escape and take Naruto with me. I think most of you know what my smoke bombs can do so I suggest you not move."

"You know any of us can take that ball away from you and knock you unconscious," Kakashi said, slightly disappointed that his name wasn't in the list Hitsuka said.

"Of course, your ranks are all higher than jounin but this smoke bomb is special. With any small but violent movement, it will instantly explode." Hitsuka grinned. "Can you steal this from me with out any violent movement?"

"Fine, I'll agree to your conditions." Six pairs of eyes turned to look at their leader.

"But…" "Hokage-sama!" "You don't need to…" instantly rang out from some of the adults. The two Hyuuga adults had already accepted the conditions in their minds.

The Third held up a hand, silencing the ninja. He said, "Hitsuka's conditions are not unacceptable, especially when he still think of the well-being of another. I agree to your conditions, Hitsuka." He suddenly began to give out orders, "Ibiki, Kakashi, please leave this room now. Jiraiya, go and grab a cup of coffee that Hitsuka wants. The meeting will begin in five minutes."

Ibiki and Kakashi reluctantly left the room, followed by Jiraiya who was muttering, "What kind of kid is intelligent enough to ask for conditions. His three-years-old! And he wants coffee too! Jeeze." The Third laughed lightly and waited for Jiraiya to return.

_Five minutes later_

Jiraiya was back with the coffee, which Hitsuka gratefully accepted. "Ahh…" he sighed with content as the caffeine rushed through his vein. 'I am alive!'

"We've all have waited long enough," the Hokage said. "I am going to start now."

"Okay," Hitsuka replied, holding on to the warm mug, a bit nervous.

"Where did you come from?"

Silence filled the room as Hitsuka decided what to say will be the best. 'I can't get out of this question,' he thought with a sigh. He began his answer, hoping that he wouldn't be chucked into a metal institution, "I… am not from this world."

"What do you mean?" the Hokage asked, very confused. 'I wasn't expecting that.'

"I mean exactly what I said. I am not from your world, I am from another world or dimension, if you like," Hitsuka explained. 'The moment of truth. Will I be gone or will I stay. Drum roll please,' he thought sarcastically.

'He is not from this world. Is that even possible? Is he crazy? But he did say that he'd tell the truth according to the second condition. Anyways, it won't hurt to listen,' the Hokage decided. "What… is your world like?"

'I stay!' He mentally cheered. He then proceeded to explain his world to people who only appeared in manga and anime, "My world is kind of like your world but we don't have ninja, ninjutsu, genjutsu, bloodline, etc. But we do have the belief on chakra and because we don't use it like the way you do, we can't do jutsu."

"But you can!" Jiraiya cried out, still trying to think that the boy was crazy.

"I… am different. According to my family, I was an unusual and powerful child."

"What do you meant by 'was'?" this time it was Hiashi who asked the question. 'He's only three yet he can understand complicated things.'

Hitsuka closed his eyes to hide the pain brought forward by his newfound memories. "In my world, the colour of my eyes and hair is not normal so I was an outcast. Children at my school and in my class made fun of me from distant because they knew I held unusual power, which was chakra.

"I was adopted so I have no idea who my parents were and what they did. When I was little, I had abnormally high chakra and absolutely no control over it. My parents, adopted parents, usually have ways to calm me down in my chakra outburst. But one day, they weren't there and I nearly killed a boy.

"After that, I fell unconscious and when I woke up, I had somehow sealed my own chakra and my memories. So that was why I couldn't use any jutsu when I first arrived in your world. When Naruto was attacked, I managed to gain access to a small amount of my chakra to defeat the man. And this morning, I got all my memories back and full access to my chakra."

"You said that children at your age made fun of you. No offence but I don't really think children at the age of three are already that bias," Hizashi said. 'Is my son, Neji that smart?'

"No, they weren't three-years-old. They were five and six."

"But, you're three… at your age… five and six… what!" a confused Jiraiya cried.

"Don't you think I am unusually smart for a three-years-old?" Hitsuka chuckled lightly.

"You mean…" the Third realized.

"Yes. I was sixteen in my world and when I arrived into your world, I got turned back to my three-year-old self."

"That… will explain a lot of things," said a shocked Hiashi.

"Yes… but that doesn't explain how you could adapt to our world so well," the Third said. He was shocked, that was certain, but he didn't show, he was the Hokage. "I assume you arrived in our world on the day you released the pink smoke?"

'This old man is very smart. Asking all the important questions,' Hitsuka thought, impressed. "You are right. The reason why I can adapt to your world because… I know this world quite well."

"How!" Hizashi asked. "We are in different worlds!"

"Is that also why you know quite a lot about us?" the Hokage asked too.

"Yes for Hokage-sama's question. How, because… your world in my world is a programme on the TV and drawn into manga."

"What! So you mean our life, our secrets, our… everything are shown on TV and drawn into little books!" Jiraiya cried out, couldn't believe his ears. 'No! Not my secrets!'

"Yes, but not everything," Hitsuka replied, a sweat drop on his head.

"Then what do you know?" Hiashi asked.

"I know a bit of the past and quite al lot of the future," Hitsuka replied mysteriously.

"You know the future?" the Third asked disbelievingly. "Tell me about it."

'I might be able to prevent something that is bad,' he thought, worried for the safety of his village.

"No, I can't tell you the future."

"Why not? We can prevent things that are bad," Hizashi said, thinking on the same line as his leader.

Hitsuka sighed. "One, because no one should know their future. Two, my presence here has already changed a lot of things. I gave Naruto love and he had make some friends, I stopped Hinata-san from getting kidnapped, thus prevent Hyuuga-san from dying. And, because of me, the future that I know may be different to the future now."

"But…" Jiraiya started.

"No, and according to my second condition, you can't make me say anything else," Hitsuka said firmly.

"You really have thought over this haven't you," the Third said this not as a question but as a statement. 'This boy… he's quite smart.'

"Yeah," Hitsuka gave a satisfying grin.

"But… you told us about the kidnap attempt. Why?" Hiashi asked and Hizashi nodded in agreement.

"That's because… I wasn't sure that I would be able to stop Gashir by myself so it was better to be safe than sorry."

"So you told them the future why not tell us!" Jiraiya cried.

"Because!"

"Because what!"

"Just… Just because!"

As the argument continued on, Hokage used his fingers to massage his temples. "Silence," he said and his wish was granted. "How about this, Hitsuka, you will give me suggestions which might prevent what's coming in the future. So, we can be prepared what ever future has in store for us."

Hitsuka thought over this idea. 'This is actually not such a bad idea. This way, I don't have to always be so worried!'

"Very well, I'll only give suggestion and if I have or need to, I'll tell you what may or will happen."

"Good," the Third sighed and leaned back in his chair. He drew in a breath from his pipe to relax. "Right, next question. What about your parents? Won't they be worried about your sudden disappearance?"

Sadness and pain filled Hitsuka's eyes. 'So much pain!' Hiashi thought. 'They don't fit on an innocent face of a three-years-old.'

"They won't, because they are no longer alive."

"I am sorry," the Third murmured, understanding Hitsuka's pain. He too, had lost people whom were precious to him.

"Don't be. It happened a long time ago," Hitsuka smiled lightly, assuring the Hokage. "Any more questions?"

"No, that'll be all for the moment," the Third answered and fell silent to think. He noticed that Hitsuka was fidgeting out from the corner of his eyes. "What's wrong? Hitsuka."

Hitsuka stopped fidgeting and asked the Third, "What are you going to do with me now?"

'So he is worried about his future here in Konoha?' the Hokage thought amusedly. He asked a question instead of answering, "Do you know if you can get back?"

"I never really thought about that," Hitsuka admitted. "But I don't think I can yet."

"Right…" With a nod, the Hokage finally made his mind up. "What had been said and will be say here today CANNOT leave this room," he told everyone formally. Seeing them nodding, he continued, "As for your future, Yuki Hitsuka, I've decided to pull you out from the Ninja academy." With a hand, he silenced Hitsuka's protests. "And make you the secret weapon of this village, Konoha. I hereby, promote you to the rank of anbu."

Silence…

Then a burst of "WHAT!" "You can't be serious." "But sensei, he is just a snivelling brat!" and "Hey! I resent that!"

"Let me explain!" the Hokage waited until everyone's attention were on him again. "From what I have seen and heard today, I am sure that Hitsuka has the power, a smart calculating brain and the heart to become a great shinobi. And as you all know, the rank anbu does not promote from jounin, but chosen by me."

"But he doesn't have a lot of experience," Hizashi said, worried for his little friend.

"So I'll be sending him on mission suitable for him," the Third replied, not at all worried.

"You sound like you've already have a mission for him, sensei," Jiraiya said, still in a state of shock and denial.

"You are right. I do have a mission for him." The Hokage chuckled as he watched people picking their jaws up from the floor.

"Do I not get a say in this," Hitsuka grumbled. 'This is moving too fast for me. Me? An anbu? Has the world comes to an end?'

"No, as the leader of your village, I command you."

"You… You still see me as one of you? After what I've just told you?" Hitsuka asked disbelievingly. The Third nodded and Hitsuka felt something spreading through him. 'I… I'm wanted! After what I've told them and they still accept me!'

"Now I'll tell you about your mission," the Third said, smiling at Hitsuka's expression, and pulled out a scroll from his desk. "I've just received this a few days ago and I was going to decline in but now I have you… I'll start from the beginning.

"The relationship between us and Sunagakure is very unstable right now. The Kazekage had just recently sent an invitation to invite a child from Konoha to his village. He wanted a playmate for his youngest son. I was going to refuse because of the rumours that I've heard.

"Rumours said that his youngest child is… different and may be unstable. But now… will you take this mission?"

'I can't believe it! I had been thinking a way to go to Suna to see if I can do anything about Gaara of the Desert. Now I have this offering to me on a silver plate. Of course I'll…'

"I'll take it."

"Excellent. Now I'll just give a reply to Kazekage and you'll leave with the merchants going to Suna in two days. This mission will be for two weeks and I am sure you'll know what to do-"

"Wait!" Hitsuka interrupted. "It's fine that I am going on a mission but what about Naruto? He can't come with me."

"Yes you are right…" the Third murmured. "What to do…"

"He can come and stay with me," Hizashi said, looking at the white-haired boy. "I'm sure Neji will be happy."

"That's sorted," the Third said, glad that he didn't have more work to do.

"Thank you, Hyuuga-san." Hitsuka smiled gratefully at Hizashi. He then remembered something. "Hokage-sama."

"Yes?"

"What's going to happen to Gashir?"

"For now, I'll give him to Ibiki then I'll have a chat with the Cloud," the Hokage said, puffing on his pipe.

"Last question, why was Morino-san here."

"He was here to learn about Gashir and what I wanted him to do," the Third answered. "I assure you, Ibiki wasn't here to torture you."

"Good."

"Go home now and rest. You'll leave in two days." The Third dismissed everyone. Hitsuka decided to go and pick Naruto up form the Hyuuga mansion. So he walked back with the Hyuuga men.

On the way, none one of them spoke, each deep in their own thoughts.

_At the Hyuuga mansion_

"Hitsuka! Where did you go?" Naruto greeted Hitsuka with a question.

Happiness, relief, love and fondness rushed through Hitsuka and he picked Naruto up. "No where. I didn't go anywhere and I'm staying."

Readied to go home and rest, Hitsuka and Naruto bid the Hyuuga family goodbye. For some reason, Naruto was quiet all the way home. Confused, Hitsuka asked, "What's wrong, Naruto?" But Naruto only shook his head and stayed silent. Decided not to push, Hitsuka fell silent too.

When they got home, Hitsuka decided that he needed some food in his rumbling stomach, fast. So he chucked the pot on the stove and ripped the cover off the instant ramen cup.

While Hitsuka was waiting patiently for the water to boil, Naruto came up from behind him. "Hitsuka…"

"Hmm?"

"I want to ask you something."

"Yeah…"

"This morning, when I saw you were hurt, I heard a voice in my head. It gave me power, scary power so I could go and safe you. What… was it?" Something like fear flashed in Naruto's eyes.

Hitsuka sighed, 'I was expecting this not for at least another two or three years.' He turned the gas off; his stomach could wait, and turned to look at Naruto. "Let's go and sit down. We'll talk."

When they got comfortable on the couch, sitting next to each other, Hitsuka turned to face Naruto. Slowly, he began to tell the poor child the reason why the villagers hated him, "Naruto, do you know who Fourth Hokage was?"

"Yes," Naruto replied, wondering why the man was brought into this conversation. "He was a great man. He died with the demon, Kyuubi no Kitsune, and saved the village." Admiration shone in Naruto's eyes.

"You've got most of that right but there was one mistake. Kyuubi no Kitsune, it didn't died. The Fourth was unable to kill it so he sacrificed his life to seal it inside a newborn baby." Naruto's brain started to see the connection. "Yes, Naruto, you were the baby. It was sealed inside you," Hitsuka finished bluntly.

Naruto placed a hand on his belly. "In… me?"

"Yes, in you," Hitsuka echoed, placing his hand on top of Naruto's.

"I'm… the demon?" Tear swelled up in Naruto's shy blue eyes. "So what those mean villagers said were true," he sniffed.

"No, no, no. You're not the demon," Hitsuka said gently, drawing Naruto into a hug. Naruto cried into the taller boy's shoulder. "You are a hero, you saved the village! You stopped Kyuubi from rampaging. It's only because the villagers are too dense to see that." Naruto gave a teary laugh. Hitsuka smiled. "You are you. Kyuubi is Kyuubi. That'll never change."

"Thank you, Hitsuka…"

**I'm not a demon. **A deep voice said inside Naruto's head.

"What? Who's there?" Naruto squeaked and Hitsuka instantly moved back to look at him.

**I said, I'm not a demon. **The voice sounded impatient.

"Ar-Are you Kyuubi?" Naruto asked with fear laced in his voice. Hitsuka, understood what was going on, tensed.

**Yes I am. **

"Hitsuka! It-It's Kyuubi and he said that he is not a demon!" Naruto told Hitsuka. He was scared but a bit excited at the same time.

"He's not a demon?" Hitsuka muttered. "Then why did he attack Konoha?"

**It's because… Ah****t****his is annoying. Brat, I am bringing you in.**

"What do you mean 'bringing me in-'" before Naruto could finish, he was out cold.

"Naruto!" Hitsuka yelled, taking a leap towards Naruto. While he was still in midair, a string of red chakra rose from Naruto's limp body. "What the?" Before his mind could register what happened, the string of chakra snaked towards him and wrapped around his body. He managed to say "Huh?" before he was too, unconscious.

"Hitsuka! Wake up! Hitsuka!" Hitsuka woke to see a very worried Naruto.

"Naruto?"

"Hitsuka, you're awake!" Naruto sighed in relief then looked around him. "Where… are we?"

Hitsuka sat up and took a look around him too. They were in a dark corridor with water running gently around them. 'This… This is…'

"We are in your mind, Naruto."

"My mind?" Surprise spread across the boy's face.

"Yes, it seems to me that Kyuubi had pulled us in so-"

**That'll be correct. **Both boys jumped in surprise.

'That's Kyuubi! What a deep voice,' Hitsuka thought. It was the first time that he heard Kyuubi speaking.

**I won't be able to move to where you are so you have to come to me, **Kyuubi said, his voice echoing in the long corridor.

"Right, Naruto, we're going," Hitsuka said as he stood up. Naruto grabbed his hand, trembling slightly. Hitsuka patted him on the head and reassure him, "Don't worry, it'll be fine."

So the two boys, holding hands, walked down the corridor to meet the creature that attacked Konoha three years ago.

**Welcome to my humble… home, **Kyuubi greeted the boys. Hitsuka's eyes widened in surprise.

'This is Kyuubi?' To say that Hitsuka was surprised was understandable. The bars of the cage were there with the seal on it. Everything looked like manga except…

Kyuubi was the size of a small dog with nine fluffy tails behind him. He almost looked cute! No wait, he was cute.

**Surprised human? You should be, after all, I am the Great Kyuubi no Kitsune, **Kyuubi said proudly, walking up to the bars of his cage, tails flared out and wagging.

"You are so cute!" Naruto squealed with delight, completely forgotten whom he was speaking to. He ran up to the cage and squatted down in front of the shocked fox. "Can I call you Kyuu-chan? Or Kyuu?"

**What are you talking about, you insolent brat! I am the Great Kyuubi no-**

"Well, you are not exactly what we expected," Hitsuka cut Kyuubi off, speaking the truth.

**What did you expect? **Kyuubi asked, irritated in being cut off and Naruto's nickname for him.

"Well…" Hitsuka tried his theory and it worked. Soon a sketchy picture of Kyuubi in magnificent glory appeared on top of his head. Sweat broke out on his forehead as he concentrated on the details. After a while, a beautiful picture of Kyuubi snaring and tearing little humans into pieces. It was the first picture of Kyuubi in manga.

"Wow…" Naruto breathed. Kyuubi was silent, staring first at the image then at Hitsuka.

"What do you think?" Hitsuka asked, a bit breathlessly from his effort.

"It's great!" Naruto said quietly.

**I agreed with the blond brat,** Kyuubi said, ignoring Naruto's protests on calling him a brat. **Yes, that's my true form. I can look like that if I want to or if I am very angry. Don't I look like that now? **Two small heads shook in negative. **Oh…**

"Let me guess, you were very angry when you attacked Konoha?" Naruto asked the question that was on Hitsuka's mind.

**Yes, I was…**

"So you took your anger out on Konoha? And you said you are not a demon," Hitsuka accused.

**One, I didn't take my anger out on your village, and two, I AM NOT A DEMON! **Kyuubi roared. Hitsuka was surprised that such a small creature could make such a loud noise.

"Then what are you?" Hitsuka asked, trying to stop the ringing in his head.

**I am an animal spirit.**

"As in ghost kind of thing?" Naruto asked, very interested.

**Not really. I am certainly no ordinary animal and I have, or had, a physical body. I look after the forest that is around and in Konoha.**

"So you are the protector of the forest," Hitsuka concluded.

**Yes. I make sure everything is in order and nothing is out of balance.**

"Then why did you attack Konoha in your true form? Surely that had affected the forest that you were protecting." Naruto asked, confusion written all over his face.

'They look so cute!' Hitsuka thought, watching Naruto talking with a fluffy animal. 'Okay… that was random.'

**I attacked Konoha because… I was hunting for a human. **

"So many lives lost just for one single person?" Naruto whispered in shock. Although the villagers never treated him well but it was his village where his precious people lived.

**It wasn't my fault. The snake human that I was hunting for was in this village. I only wanted him but those stupid ninja decided to attack me. I was so angry that I would rip apart anything that was in my path. This was how I met the Fourth.**

"Wait a sec, did you said, 'snake human?'" Hitsuka asked, making sure what he heard was correct.

**Yeah…**

"What did this 'snake human' do?" Naruto butted in, curious.

At the thought of that human, Kyuubi began to grow in size. Naruto moved back to where Hitsuka was standing in fear. Soon, both children understood the fear the villagers felt.

A snaring fox with nine tails lashing behind it was presented inside the solid cage. **That bastard**** He killed my family, my wife and my kits! HE KILLED THEM ALL! **Kyuubi roared, shaking the room that they were in. **My kits, they hadn't even opened their eyes yet. **Slowly, Kyuubi went back to its original size as anger turned into sorrow. **They were so small…**

"What happened," Hitsuka said gently, moving forward to the cage with Naruto behind him. "Let it out, let your pain out," he murmured, extending his hand into the cage and started to stroke Kyuubi's head.

**My mate, she just gave birth to my kits. She was tired and weak but she was happy. My kits, there were four of them, they were so cute. I knew my mate needed food, so I went out. I was delayed by some business with the animals in the forest. And when I came back the next morning, I found my mate dead. A human had taken my kits. **

**I smelt a snake, no snake could outsmart a fox! But I calmed myself down, I needed to find my kits. So I took after the scent and soon I arrived at a cabin. I felt no life in it but I knew my kits were in there. With dread, I pushed the door open and walked in. My kits, my poor kits. They were all dead! But that was not the worst. They each had wires and tubes sticking out of them. They were used in an experiment!**

With slow movements, Hitsuka shifted the trembling fox onto his laps. Naruto joined the patting. With tears running, Kyuubi continued, **I found one kit was still alive, barely alive. For a second I thought I might be able to save one. But… the kit wa****s suffering, he was better off**** dead. I… I had to kill him! I had to kill my own kit with my own teeth to end his suffering! The moment I felt the bones snapped under my teeth, I vowed that I would kill the snake human. Revenge, revenge, revenge… **

**I again followed the scent, this time in my true form. I was so angry! I arrived near a village and tiny humans started to attack me. Blinded by hate and anger, I killed. I knew the snake human was in the village so I charged forward. But soon, there was another obstacle. It was a blond human standing on a huge toad. I attacked and he defended. For how long I didn't know. He then disappeared, leaving other humans to attack me. **

**After a while, when I was so close to the village, he appeared again. The toad charged forward to attack me while the human did hand seals. He was crying, I noticed. Then with a yell, he did something. He sealed me inside a baby. I tried to run for I hadn't had my revenge yet. But I was sucked into the baby. Before I completely disappeared, I saw the snake human. He was smirking at me! He knew I was coming for him and I couldn't do anything to harm him now. I would never forget his ugly pale face. I will kill him one day. I will.**

Hitsuka and Naruto were silent. What they heard now was completely new. They didn't know what to say.

Suddenly, Naruto started to cry. "I am sorry. I am so sorry. I am so sorry…" again and again he apologized for his village. Kyuubi cracked open his eyes. He jumped from Hitsuka's laps into Naruto's and licked the crying boy's cheek.

**Don't be, kit. It wasn't your fault and because of me, you have been suffering. I am sorry too. **

Naruto smiled happily at the name Kyuubi called him with. He giggled because the warm tongue was tickling his face. Hitsuka smiled too. 'Looks like Kyuubi have found his kit inside Naruto,' he thought then he noticed something different. 'How is it that we are touching Kyuubi when he is supposed to be inside a cage?' He looked around and discovered that he and Naruto were on the other side of the bars. "We can move in and out of the cage?" he thought out loud. That was when Kyuubi and Naruto noticed the difference.

**How is that possible? **Kyuubi wondered. **The seal… **He stood up and walked towards the bars. He couldn't even put his paws through the gap.

"My turn," Naruto said and he walked through the bars. His eyes widened along with Hitsuka's. "Cool…"

**Is there an explanation for this?**

"Probably not," Hitsuka replied as he too, walked out of the cage. He walked back in again for he wanted to talk to Kyuubi. "Stop running backwards and forward, Naruto. You're making me dizzy."

"Sorry," said Naruto, running back in and plopped himself down next to Kyuubi.

"Okay, Kyuubi-sama-"

**Kyuubi will do.**

"Right, Kyuubi," Hitsuka started again. "Does the 'snake human' look like this?" An image of a pale-faced guy appeared over their heads. It was Orochimaru.

**Yes, it was him,** Kyuubi spat out. His eyes blazing with hate. **Do you know him?**

"Know him? No. Know about him? Yes," Hitsuka said. "He was taught by the Third but he betrayed Konoha. He is a dangerous man."

**I will kill him. I will.**

Hitsuka sighed. "Kyuubi, you can't kill him unless we find a way to unseal you, otherwise, it'll be Naruto who'll kill him."

"I am not sure about the killing but I can kick his ass!" Naruto said happily, making Hitsuka and Kyuubi chuckled.

**Thanks kit.**

"That'll be a great plan but Naruto, you are not strong enough," Hitsuka said seriously. "You could die or be taken in as an experiment subject."

Naruto shivered slightly at the horrible thought. **I'll never let that happen,** Kyuubi said with fatherly protectiveness. **I can help him.**

"And I can train very hard," Naruto piped in.

Hitsuka looked at the pair. Naruto had a look of determination on his face and Kyuubi's showed protectiveness. Again he sighed, "Know this, Orochimaru is very strong for his is one of the Legendary Three. Not to mention his knowledge and experience, which Naruto are lacking."

**I have thousands of years of knowledge and experience that I can teach.**

"So you are saying that you can train Naruto?"

**Yes.**

"Good!" Hitsuka said, finally achieved his gaol. "I'll leave him to your hands… err… paws."

"Aren't you going to teach me any more?" Naruto asked quietly, afraid that Hitsuka was going to abandon him.

"No, not for the next two weeks," Hitsuka replied, understanding Naruto's fear. He explained, "Naruto, I went to a meeting with Hokage-sama this morning and I was promoted. From today, I am an anbu, the secret weapon of Konoha. And I am going on a mission in two days that lasts for two weeks."

"That's great!" Naruto squealed, truly happy for Hitsuka. "Wait until Neji-nii-san and Hinata-chan find out."

"No Naruto, they mustn't know." Hitsuka shook his head to emphasise. "No one should know about this. You should never tell anyone what had happened here today. This is our secret. Understand?" Naruto nodded. "Good."

**You are not a normal kid are you? You are more mature than any other kids at your age I've ever seen, **Kyuubi asked.

"You can say that," Hitsuka replied with a soft smile. "When the time comes, I'll tell you and Naruto about it."

**Right, you should go back to your world now. Don't worry, I'll look after kit, **Kyuubi added, reading Hitsuka's mind. **I'll train him and make him strong. I'll also train you too, Hitsuka. From now on, you two will be my kits.**

"Really! I have a father!" Naruto squealed while Hitsuka was shocked.

"Really? A father?" Hitsuka whispered.

Kyuubi grinned and gave his kits a lick on the face. **Yeah, really.**

_Two days later_

Hitsuka stood in front of the Konoha gate with the merchants and their carts. Naruto was there with him. "Bye, Hitsuka."

"Bye, Naruto." They gave each other a hug, moving slower than usual. Hitsuka gave Naruto a kiss on the forehead. "Be good."

"I will, I promise."

"We are leaving now," Kakashi said, standing next to the pair. He was assigned to protect the people that were going to Suna. He was a bit confused why Hitsuka was going.

Hitsuka gave another hug then climbed onto one of the cart. "Bye" Naruto yelled as the group of people, animals and carts started to move. Soon, Hitsuka disappeared from his sight.

"Bye…" he distantly heard Hitsuka yelled.

"Come, we are going back now," Hizashi said, placing a hand on Naruto's head.

Naruto did his best not to cry but a few sobs escaped. Hizashi looked at the blond boy and picked him up. "Don't worry, he'll be back soon."

"Yeah…" Naruto agreed.

"Is it me or have you gained a lot of weight in two days?" Hizashi asked, a bit confused why Naruto was suddenly heavier.

Naruto chuckled and replied, "I've got six kilograms of weights on. 1.5kg on each arms and legs." He showed Hizashi the wrist band-like things on his wrists and ankles.

"Why?" Hizashi asked curiously.

"Because, I must get very strong in order to protect the people I love and this village," Naruto said proudly.

Hizashi smiled. 'After what those villagers did to him, he still wants to protect this village.' "Let's go back now. Neji is waiting."

"Yeah!"

_In the cart_

'I am bored!' Hitsuka thought in annoyance. It had only been ten minutes since he left Konoha but there was nothing to do. He turned his head and saw Kakashi walking behind the cart he was sitting on. 'He's not reading Icha Icha Paradise? Oh yeah, he's only 17 this year. Good, so he's not a pervert yet.' Poor Hitsuka, he didn't know how wrong he was.

Hitsuka shifted so his back was leaning against the side of the cart. He pulled his black backpack towards him and started to rummage. He soon found what he was looking for, a book. It was a book titled Kung Fu from his world. 'One of the things that I found in my backpack,' he thought. 'I should learn Kung Fu or taijutsu. I need to get fit, already the extra 6kg is making me tired. I need to be strong in body too if I want to be a great ninja.'

He started to read and look at the illustration in the book. The book taught the basics of different style of fighting, including Tae Kwondo, Kendo, Shinto Ryu and even Kick Boxing. As he read about Tai Chi Chuan, he felt Kakashi moved towards him.

"What are you reading?"

"Taijutsu," Hitsuka replied, eyes trained on the book.

"You don't read taijutsu, you move and learn," Kakashi said.

"But I don't have anyone to teach me so I learn by myself. I'll practice later," Hitsuka replied then he ignored Kakashi who went away.

When the stopped for the night, Hitsuka hurriedly ate his dinner then he walked away to practice. He found a small clearing in the forest not too far away from the campsite. 'This will do,' he thought then he started to learn Tai Chi all by himself.

He had seen people doing Tai Chi in the park before so he imagined himself as one of them. He did the moves slowly, following the book. Although he was only a beginner, he managed to do every move smoothly. He was so concentrated that he fell to notice Kakashi's presence.

'What kind of taijutsu is that?' Kakashi thought as he watched Hitsuka from a tree. 'It looks like the Gentle Fist that the Hyuuga are famous for, but it's kind of different. Maybe he invented it by himself from watching the Hyuuga practice?' Kakashi noticed that Hitsuka was reading a book then did the moves. 'The Hyuuga don't pass their taijutsu down by books so what is that book? I am interested to find out.'

Hitsuka sat down wearily. The extra weight was getting heavier and his kimono was slightly damp from his exercise. "Argh! I need a bath," Hitsuka cried.

"I can help you with that," Kakashi said, making himself known by the boy. He jumped down and landed in front of Hitsuka.

Hitsuka's eyes widened and he stuttered, "Pe-Pe-Pe-"

"Pe- what?" Kakashi asked.

"PERVERT!"

A sweat-drop rolled down from the back of Kakashi's head. "That was not what I meant. There is a small river near here, you can take a bath there."

"Oh…" Hitsuka blushed slightly in embarrassment. "Thanks…"

"No problem," Kakashi said with a smile, not that Hitsuka could see it. "I'll take you there." He lifted Hitsuka up and started to walk.

"Heh! I can walk by myself," Hitsuka yelled, now blushing madly.

"No you can't. You are tired. Have you gained weight in two days?"

"No I've got weights on."

"So you must be more tired. You didn't even sense me coming," Kakashi said. "I saw you practicing."

"You saw me practicing?" Hitsuka asked in disbelieve.

"Yup! What is that book?"

"I told you before, it's a book on taijutsu."

"Can I have a look?"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"Because I am going to invent a taijutsu that no one has seen before," Hitsuka said with determination.

"Fine." With that, Kakashi dropped a surprised Hitsuka into the cold water. "We're here!"

Sputtering, Hitsuka stood up. "What did you do that for!"

"Your kimono needs a wash too," Kakashi replied cheekily. "I was only trying to help."

"Yeah right," Hitsuka muttered under his breath then he started to take his kimono off. Soon he was only in his boxers. He gave his kimono a quick rinse then he climbed out of the water. "I need to light a fire," he said and started to gather dry wood.

"I'll help," Kakashi chirped and brought some wood forward. They arranged the wood so it'll be easy to light a fire. Hitsuka expectantly stared at Kakashi. "What!" Kakashi asked.

"Light a fire," Hitsuka cried, wanting to jump back into the water and leave his clothes to dry.

"Oh!" With a few hand seals and a cry of "Katon no jutsu!" a roaring fire lit up the riverbank.

Hitsuka spread his kimono beside the fire then he jumped back into the water. He noticed Kakashi was sneaking around his kimono. "It's not there," he called out.

Kakashi jumped slightly then replied, "Who said I was looking for the book?"

Hitsuka looked at Kakashi thinking that for a genius he was stupid. "You just did."

"Oops," Kakashi said, scratching the back of his head. "Well… where is it?"

"I hid it, knowing that you have the skill to steal it off from me without me noticing," Hitsuka said washing quickly so he could get out of the freezing water. He climbed out quickly and settled himself beside the fire. "Ah… It's so warm."

"I don't steal, I borrow!" Kakashi protested. He stood up and unzipped his jounin vest, he then proceeded to drape it around Hitsuka's shivering body. "Here."

"Thank you," Hitsuka whispered, touched by Kakashi's action.

After another four nights, everyone finally arrived at the Sunagakure. It was time for Hitsuka to meet Gaara of the Desert.

* * *

Phew, long chapter. Please review and I once again apologize for not update for such a long time. I am not sure when the next chapter will come because I have to study for my music theory exam that is coming up in two weeks. 

Please review. I know you want to.


	13. Chapter 13

I am sorry for disappearing from for such a long time. If you are wondering, no, I am not dead, but my brain is. For the last few weeks/months, I had stacks of unfinished homework and exams and performances. I don't know if I should hate school or what. But, I am currently on school term break and I was able to finish another chapter! Whoopee! So umm… sorry about the long wait. In this chapter, Naruto and the Hyuuga won't be presented. It's mainly about Hitsuka, Gaara and Yashamaru.

_Arnoldsrife: You must be psychic! Thanks for the support but I think I might've taken too much time to update, haven't I? Thank you._

_Falling Right Side-Up: Firstly, I'll apologize that I didn't update soon as you would like. But thank you? You really like this fic? I agree with you on about the male OC thing, although female OC isn't too bad but there are just too many of them. About your question, no, I am not going to do any romance. I don't have that kind of writing skill yet. Thanks for the review._

_Dragon Man 180: Thanks for the compliment. Sexy no Jutsu is a great idea but I don't really think it's Hitsuka's style. Yes, I totally agree with you that Orochimaru will be royally screwed. _

_lilbunnyfufu: I am sorry that I haven't been able to update as fast as I can! But… But… sigh I won't make any excuses. Is that a good thing that sweet moments make your tooth ache? Anyways, thanks for reading my fic so carefully and making comments here and there. I have to agree with you on some part but I can't really go back and change it for I might shift the plot too… umm… far? Thanks!_

_Rishan: You're addicted? Are you joking? My __**fic**__? Thanks for the encouragement or whatever you call it on my theory exam. I haven't got my result back, which is a bit weird. I must've fell! Oh NO! Thanks!_

_ninfan: Thanks for the review! Please read this chapter._

_ranma hibiki: Yeah I know! An anbu! Umm… Hitsuka is really only sixteen. Thanks!_

_koolanimefreek: Don't be sad that Neji got the curse seal! It has to be done. May be in the future, he can get it off? Don't know. Sorry I didn't update soon like you asked. I was… umm… busy. Please read this chappy!_

_Toki Mirage: Sorry! I didn't mean to not update! I offer you this new chapter so you can read. That didn't make sense. All well, I hope you'll like it._

_Narugami Kiyou: You like it? My fic? Thank you!_

_mizuru-chan: Too cool? Really, you think so? Thanks! (Another comment from me to you below…)_

_Dan Inverse: Did Kakashi sound odd? Hmm… I thought that was how he treated Team 7? Thanks anyway._

_chaosknight: Sorry for not updating soon. Hope you'll like this chapter._

_Kitsurumenokitsune: Just wondering, what does your pen name mean?_

_Rika-san: Sorry! Here is… umm… a bit of the rest. Thank you!_

_kae: Here's the update. Hope you'll like it._

_ice: Here more, please read it! I honestly don't know when Hitsuka will meet Sasuke._

_yukitora: I am sorry, I did go on a long break. Hope you are still alive to read the NEWEST chapter! Thanks for the review!_

_mizuru-chan: Two reviews from you! Thanks! I am not sure if I need an editor. I know I need one but, well… it's quite bothersome if you don't mind me say so. Thank you so much for the offer!_

_Master Chaos: Thank you so much for the support! teary eyes Nice imitation of Gai, he is really umm… passionate isn't he. Hope you'll like the new chapter._

_Dragon Noir: Thank you so much for reading my fic that carefully. To answer your question, the three kids didn't ask Hitsuka questions on his power surge. They were asking questions on the kidnap attempt on Hinata. For your second question, the answer is… the writer of this fic scratches her head and a sweat drop appears Well, umm… good question. I actually didn't think about that. Good on you _

_for picking that up. Sorry, this chapter does not contain Naruto at all, he's in the next chapter. I hope you'll like this chapter. Thanks for the luck for my exam. _

_Surarrin: Is it really interesting? I hope you like it._

_Rakasha Putra: Here's my update. I hope you'll like it!_

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto but I do own a few of its posters and manga. Also, I own Hitsuka and everything about him is mine. MINE…

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

* * *

Chapter thirteen

"Kazekage-sama," a man at the door said with a bow. "They are here."

"Bring them in," the Kazekage commanded, his back facing the man. The man bowed again and quickly left the room. The leader of Sunagakure turned and sat down behind his desk, waiting for the Konoha residents.

There was a knock on the door. With a loud voice, he said, "Come in." A pause before the door was pushed open. In walked a small boy with long white hair wearing a black kimono. Immediately behind him was Konoha's infamous Copy Cat Ninja Hatake Kakashi.

'Is that a girl?' the Kazekage absently thought. 'But that old fart Hokage wrote that a boy was coming. Heh, that boy could pass as a girl easily enough.'

"Kazekage-sama," the Konoha residents bowed.

"Please sit down," the Kazekage said with a strained smile, indicating to the two chairs in front of him with his hand. "I, the Kazekage of Sunagakure, welcome you."

"Thank you, Kazekage-sama," Kakashi said after they were all seated. "I would like to introduce ourselves. I am Hatake Kakashi and this is Yuki Hitsuka."

The Kazekage nodded and murmured, looking at the boy, "Yuki Hitsuka…" He leaned forward and started talking to Hitsuka as if he was a baby (which he kind of looked the part but not mentally), "Hitsuka-kun, do you know what you are here for?"

Mentally rolling his eyes, Hitsuka decided to play along. "Yes Kazekage-sama," he said tentatively. "I am here to meet someone."

The Kazekage mentally smirked, 'Oh… Hokage, you didn't know who this boy is going to meet did you?' With a what-he-thought-was-a-fatherly-smile, he said, "Yes, Hitsuka-kun. I'll send someone to take you to him now. Don't be afraid, you'll be fine." He had misinterpreted the slight shaking body of Hitsuka, thinking that it was fear. But in reality, Hitsuka was shaking from his silent laughter.

'He must be thinking that the Hokage was stupid enough to send me. And he thought I am afraid? Afraid of leaving Kakashi may be? And what's up with his smiles. They made him looked like he had just ate my old principle's oily toupee!' Hitsuka thought, making it harder for him to contain his snickers. "Thank you, Kazekage-sama," Hitsuka said, after making sure that he wouldn't burst out laughing.

"No worries, no worries. Now, Baki!" the Kazekage raised his voice, calling for someone.

The door opened and a man in his twenties walked in. "Yes, Kazekage-sama?"

"Take this child, Yuki Hitsuka, to my house. He is to meet Gaara."

"Yes, Kazekage-sama. Please follow me," Baki said formally and politely.

Kakashi watched as Hitsuka was lead away. 'Good luck…' he thought, after all, he was the Copy Cat Ninja and he, of course, had heard of Kazekage abnormal child.

_In front of a tall building _

"We're here," Baki said shortly, looking down at the small boy.

Hitsuka looked up, and up. 'Such a tall building! So this is where the Kazekage lives, and he said it is a house? It's more like a mansion.'

"Come," said Baki, walking forward to talk to the guards at the door. He leaded him inside, revealing the glamorous interior. Hitsuka looked around him with wide eyes.

'Everything is made out of wood or sand! The decor is a bit weird though.'

They soon stopped in front of a door. "Gaara-sama is in there," he said and made no movement to move forward.

'I wonder if Yashamaru is dead or not. If he is I will have more troubles… I might not even get out of this mission alive,' Hitsuka thought grimly as he knocked twice on the door. 'I am starting to seriously doubt the old man's ability to judge the dangerousness of a mission.'

For a few seconds, there was no noise on the other side of the door, leading Hitsuka to believe that there was no one. But then, he heard a small voice. "Come in…"

Taking the invitation, Hitsuka opened the door after throwing a glance at Baki. "Hello…" He looked around the dimmed room, searching for the source of the voice. His eyes focused on the small figure that was standing beside a table. The figure walked forward into the last ray of the sunset, which came in from the window. It stopped before it revealed its face.

"Who are you?" a young and uncertain voice asked.

'Judging from the voice, it is definitely Gaara. And since I can't see his face, I can't determine if he has the scar of the kanji 'Ai' or not,' Hitsuka thought before he replied, "My name is Hitsuka, Yuki Hitsuka. And you are?"

'Then again, the way he voiced his question… I might still have a chance.'

"Why are you here?" the small figure asked, ignoring the question. "Aren't you… Aren't you scared of me?"

"No, should I be?" Hitsuka asked, head tilted to the side.

"No! Yes… No… I don't know. Other people are scared of me."

"But I don't!" Hitsuka said with a big smile. But in reality, he was scared. This boy in font of him could kill him easily and although he had a large amount of chakra, he was still facing an unstable demon carrier, or could he be an animal spirit carrier? Like Naruto. He didn't know.

With his right hand, he grabbed his other hand to stop them shaking. "I'm here to be your playmate."

"My… what!" the figure cried in disbelieve.

"Your playmate," Hitsuka repeated firmly and slowly walked forward. "I am here to play with you. That is… if you want."

"To play with me?" The figure walked further into the light. A small boy with short red hair and wide innocent green eyes. Like Naruto, he had signs to show what he carried. The dark black circles around his eyes of sleepless nights said it all. His forehead was scar-less. "To play with me?" the small boy repeated.

"Yes, to play with you," Hitsuka confirmed, slowly reaching out with his hands. "What's your name?"

The green-eyed boy looked at the hands uncertainly, eyes flicking up to met the golden eyes of the other boy. He hesitantly reached out with his hands to touch Hitsuka's. "Gaara. My name is Gaara."

"Nice to meet you, Gaara," Hitsuka said quietly, decided not to add any honorific for now. 'Am I glad that Yashamaru is not dead. Things will be less complicate now.'

Gaara, although still not quite sure what to do with the newfound friendship, could barely conceal his excitement. Hitsuka was his first friend and there were lots of things to ask and to do. With a firm hand, he grabbed Hitsuka's hand and leaded him to where a few small chairs were situated. He then 

proceeded to ask questions; a happy smile lit his small face up. "Where did you come from, I've never seen you before. How old are you? Do you know any games…"

'He is so much like Naruto,' Hitsuka thought sadly. 'Naruto is not lonely any more and I'll do my best to do the same for Gaara.'

_Outside, where Baki was _

"Baki-san! What are you doing here?" Baki turned to see Gaara's guardian, Yashamaru walking towards him. Yashamaru was a man who looked very much like his sister, Gaara's mother, and took cared of Gaara since he was born. "Well?"

"I brought someone to meet Gaara-sama," Baki said.

"Someone…? Oh you mean Gaara-sama's playmate from Konoha," Yashamaru realised. He gave a sigh, "Baki-san, you should have waited for me. Gaara-sama may be… unstable and do some regretful things." With that, he knocked on the door. "You should leave now, Baki-san."

"If this will make you feel better, I haven't heard any screaming… yet," Baki said, pushing himself away from the wall. He gave a nod to the other man then walked away.

Yashamaru watched the man walked away then gave another sigh. "But Gaara-sama has the ability to kill someone without making them scream, even if he is only three," he murmured then pushed open the door to be greeted by a sight he thought he would never see in his life. There on the floor was Gaara and a white-haired kid doodling and laughing. 'What the fuck…?'

"Yashamaru!" Gaara cried when he saw the man. "Look! I drew dog!"

Yashamaru peered at the paper that was pushed up into his face. 'A dog? Looks more like some kind of sick scientist's creation,' he thought in distaste.

'You can't say that. After all, it is really his first attempt in drawing,' his mother-like conscience told him gently. He pushed his conscience away. He supposed to hate this monster, thinking good things about him was a big no-no.

Putting on a smile with ease, he praised Gaara, "Very good, Gaara-sama." Gaara beamed at him and rushed back to where Hitsuka was, leaving him behind with his thoughts.

'He looked so innocent with his smile. He doesn't smile that often but with that boy around, he seems to be doing it quite a lot. No, no, no. He is a monster, not a child, not a child, not a child…?' Yashamaru mentally shook his head, trying to convince himself. He looked up and his eyes met squarely with the Konoha's boy's gold eyes. He couldn't help but think that the boy knew what he was thinking.

"You must be Yashamaru-san whom I had heard so much from Gaara," Hitsuka said, standing up and walked towards the man. "My name is Yuki Hitsuka, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Hitsuka-sam-"

Hitsuka cut in, "Please just call me Hitsuka."

"Well, Hitsuka," Yashamaru smiled lightly, "you must be the child from Konohagakure who is staying with us for two weeks."

'Doesn't the Hokage know that he is putting this child into his early grave?'

'But they looked very happy before and I don't think Gaara-sama has any intention of hurting the boy,' his conscience piped in.

"That'll be correct," Hitsuka replied with a smile of his own, confirming what Yashamaru said and also, unconsciously agreeing with the man's conscious.

'Shut up!' Yashamaru mentally yelled at his conscience. 'He is a monster, a demon!'

'Do you really believe that?' his conscience asked quietly.

'Of course I… do…'

'You sound uncertain,' the conscience said before it went quiet.

"Let's go to dinner," Yashamaru told the boys. "I've made your favourite, Gaara-sama."

"Whoopee! Let's go Hitsuka," Gaara cheered and grabbed Hitsuka's hand, running out the room.

'Maybe, just maybe…' Yashamaru thought, not for the first time, that maybe he had came to love his nephew.

For the next few days, the villagers of Suna had seen the new kid with the village's demon. Often they wondered if the kid was going to die. Some even made bets on when the kid would die. But, those two kids were having a great time. They went to the park, had ice cream, had fun with Yashamaru. Some people just couldn't believe their eyes and ears. Yashamaru was one of them.

'This is not the Gaara-sama that I hate,' he thought as he watched Hitsuka and Gaara playing in the sand in the park. They weren't put off by the fact that they were the only ones in the park, because other kids where too scared to come near Gaara. The red-haired boy made a grand sand castle with his unique way of controlling sand while Hitsuka accidentally knocked over his own. They were laughing happily. 'Maybe I don't hate him at all. But he was the one who killed nee-chan.'

'It wasn't his fault was it?' Yashamaru's conscience said. 'It was the members of council of Suna who decided to seal Shukaku in Gaara, which lead to the death of his mother. You know that too. You know that Gaara is a victim too. He was born to be a weapon, a weapon to kill.'

'How is it that you know so much?' Yashamaru asked, looking down at his trembling hands in his laps.

'I don't. You know all these. I am you and you are me. Your heart has already decided to love Gaara but you mind is leading you to hate him. Trust your heart, believe it.'

'I'll try…'

"Yashamaru!" Gaara's voice brought his guardian back to reality. "Yashamaru, are you okay?" he asked in concern.

'A demon will never be worried about someone else's well-being,' Yashamaru thought, looking down at the boy. "I am fine, Gaara-sama."

Hitsuka stood up and watched the love between uncle and nephew grew. 'I didn't need to do a lot after all,' he thought with a gentle smile on his face. 'By being a friend with Gaara is all I needed to do. Now it's up to Yashamaru.' Hitsuka was certainly making great progress but there were other things too. He looked at the gradually quieting village as the villagers moved to finish the last chore of the day. 'The fearful looks and the hateful looks. I wonder which one is better than the other,' he thought sadly, thinking about Gaara and Naruto. 'Neither, I believe.'

"Hitsuka! Time to go home," Gaara called, waving at the said boy.

"Coming."

_On the roof of the Kazekage's house _

That night, Hitsuka managed to leave Gaara alone with Yashamaru. They needed some time together and he needed some time to practice his taijutsu. He went through the warm-up and then proceeded to go through the Tai Chi movements.

He started slowly, gradually speeding up. Each movement were gentle, smooth and calculated. His breathing slowed down and his mind relaxed. With the moonlight and his dark kimono, he looked like he was glowing and was doing a sacred dance.

This was what Gaara saw when he came up to the rooftop. 'Beautiful…'

Hitsuka started to slow down and brought his exercise to an end. He whirled around when he heard soft clapping. "Gaara?"

"That was beautiful, Hitsuka," Gaara said with admiration in his voice. "You were beautiful too."

Hitsuka blushed, not used to being called beautiful. "Thanks…"

"I wish I can do that," Gaara sighed. "But I probably can't be that graceful."

"You can learn, Gaara," Hitsuka said with a grin. "You should too. Your sand cannot protect you forever."

"Eh? What do you mean?" Gaara question, plopping himself down beside Hitsuka. "My Suna no Tate (sand shield) had always protected me before. It's my ultimate defence." Although Gaara might not know in depth what was really sealed inside him, he knew what the thing inside him could do to protect him. He also knew that Hitsuka was well aware of it too.

"But what if someone is too fast and your sand can't protect you in time?" Hitsuka asked and sat down too. "What if that someone is a taijutsu specialist?"

"I still have my Suna no Yoroi (sand armour). It'll protect me too," said a confused Gaara.

"But what if the taijutsu specialist is strong enough to crack your armour too?" Hitsuka said, thinking about Rock Lee. Gaara's eyes finally showed understanding.

"Then I'll have to protect myself with taijutsu," he said slowly, understanding the importance.

"That's right!"

"Then Hitsuka, can you teach me?" Gaara asked, getting all excited.

Hitsuka shook his head in negative. "Unfortunately, I can't. I'm just learning taijutsu myself so it's better if you find an experienced teacher," Hitsuka said with regret.

"Who'll want to teach me? They are all scared of me," Gaara said sadly, eyes downcast.

Hitsuka put his arms around the shorter boy's shoulders, "Yashamaru-san is not scared of you. Why not ask him?"

Gaara lifted his hopeful eyes to met Hitsuka's, "Yashamaru?"

"Yeah," Hitsuka grinned. "He is at least chuunin rank, I think, and if you explain everything to him, he might teach you."

"Right," Gaara said with determination. "I'll go and ask him now."

"Good luck," Hitsuka called out at Gaara's back then he chuckled lightly. Now, all alone, he looked up at the softly glowing moon. "What a beautiful night…" he murmured. 'Tomorrow night… it'll be full moon. In the manga, Yashamaru died on a full moon night. I hope… everything is different now.' With a soft thump, he laid down on his back and sighed. 'I should get in soon. Even though I am in the desert, it's still winter.'

Suddenly, a loud grumble was heard. It was his stomach protesting in hunger. 'Okay. Maybe I should go to the kitchen and get some food. Hmm… I want something sweet, how about I make a dessert? I am quite sure there is still some…' With that in mind, he got up and climbed down the stairs to get to his destination.

_In the kitchen _

"Right, I need flour, sugar, milk, butter, banana, chocolate sauce, and is there cream in the fridge?" Hitsuka rummaged through the fridge. "Ah here we go. Now I can get started!" He was rather happy because it had been quite a while since he made that particular dessert. "Yummy." He was drooling, just a bit.

Humming a tune from his world, Hitsuka mixed flour, sugar, melted butter and milk together, which produced a kind of runny mixture. He climbed on to a chair and with a buttered pan already heated on the stove and poured a bit of the mixture in. He waited for it to cook. 'I should make one for Gaara as well.'

When flipping the pancake-like things, he sensed two people coming to the kitchen, trying to be quiet. They were in fact two kids and Hitsuka tried to figure out who they were. 'Okay… It's definitely not Gaara 'cause he has a very distinctive chakra. No kids in this village are brave enough to come within ten feet of this house. So they must be the other Suna siblings, Temari and Kankurou! But why are they here?'

Hitsuka had met those two on several occasions but never really talked to them. 'They were probably afraid of Gaara, but really, there is nothing to be afraid of. I think…'

Hitsuka did his best to look at the pair without being noticed by them. They were peeking from the entrance of the kitchen. He heard some shuffling and heated whispers. He was rather surprised when a brown, spiky-haired boy was flung into the room. "Are you okay?" he asked, a sweat-drop rolling off from his head as Kankurou clutched his head in pain.

"Yeah I am fine," the physically older boy gruffly replied then he muttered under his breath, "Damn annoying girl. Why can't she do it?"

"For Kami-sama's sake, just ask," Temari hissed from the doorway and another sweat-drop joined the other one on Hitsuka's head.

"Fine!" Kankurou yelled then turned to face Hitsuka. "Hey you, what is it that you're making?" he said rudely, gesturing towards the pan.

Hitsuka was now fully surprised. He wasn't expecting a question like that. "Well Kankurou-san, it's a dessert," he answered, and then he suddenly understood the whole situation. 'Oh!' With a grin, he asked, "Would you and Temari-san like to try my dessert?"

"Sure why not?" Kankurou shrugged. He seemed like he didn't care about the dessert, but a trail drool gave hime away.

Temari walked in and whacked her brother on the head. "Don't be so disgusting," she said, wrinkling her nose. She turned to face Hitsuka and thanked him politely, "Thank you for inviting us, but are you sure you can do it?"

'She's worried about a three-year-old's cooking? She is definitely underestimating me.'

"Don't worry Temari-san, I've done this quite a lot of times," Hitsuka assured the girl with a grin. "Please go and sit down. I'll have it ready in minutes."

When the two children sat down at their own small table not too far away, Hitsuka continued to do what he was doing before. Again, he sensed someone coming. The last member of the Suna siblings. "Just in time, Gaara," he said when Gaara ran into the room breathlessly but very excited.

"Hitsuka! Yashamaru said that he'd teach me!" Gaara told the white-haired boy, standing beside the chair. "He said he'll start teaching me tomorrow!"

"That's great, Gaara," Hitsuka said with a warm smile. "Just wait for a bit and be prepared to eat the best dessert in the world a.k.a the world's best dessert!"

"Bu-But that's the same!" Gaara said, a bit confused. He got a light chuckle from Hitsuka as a reply. He started laughing too, happy that someone liked him. His laughter died away when he caught sight of his siblings. They were staring at him with fears in their eyes. 'My own brother and sister, they fear me. My own siblings…'

"Hi-Hitsuka-kun, I think we sho-should leave now," Temari stuttered a bit as she pushed her chair back. Kankurou followed. For as long as they could remember, they were constantly told that their brother was a demon and they should keep away from him. Gradually in their young hearts, Gaara wasn't their brother but a monstrous beast whom would not hesitate in killing and devouring them.

"Stop saying nonsense. I've already made your dessert so sit back down right now and eat it," Hitsuka said with a hint of command in his voice. "Gaara, please take these to your brother and sister."

Gaara looked questioningly at Hitsuka but followed his request anyways. As he balanced the two dishes on his hands, he caught a waft of the delicious dessert. 'Yummy,' he thought. His siblings probably thought so too if the trails of drools indicated anything.

'Looks like the want of the dessert has overcome their fear,' Hitsuka thought with delight.

"Here you go, Kankurou, Temari…" Gaara shyly said, putting down the plates. He was looking down at his hands instead of his bother and sister.

Kankurou and Temari were rather surprised at how their brother was acting. They didn't really know him that well because their fear had kept them apart. 'He… is not the same person I feared,' they thought at the same time.

Hitsuka walked up with another two plates. He was shaking his head as he told Gaara, "No Gaara. They are your siblings so you should called them nii-san and nee-san."

"Okay… nii-san, nee-san…" Gaara said, the words foreign on his tongue. The two elder siblings were gapping at him.

'My… little brother!' Temari mentally squealed, finally casting aside her fear and came to like her youngest brother.

'Hn… finally someone younger than me in the house,' Kankurou thought, accepting the youngest child of the three as his family at last.

"Ga-Gaara, sit next to me," Temari said with just one little stutter. Although she saw Gaara as her brother now, years of fears that were drilled into her young mind by her father didn't just go away in a few minutes. But, she had trampled (mentally) most of her fear and invited her brother to sit next to her.

"Nah don't sit next to the old lady, man. Sit next to me," Kankurou said, beckoning Gaara with his hand. He was also signing his own death wish at the same time. Kankurou wasn't as awkward with Gaara as Temari due to the fact that he was one year younger than his sister and that he was also a boy. Well… boys tend to stick together.

"Kankurou" Temari said slowly and eerily, emitting the killing intent that only an angry woman could have. She slowly picked up her knife, fingering it. "You know… I had been trying to find a living target to perfect my kunai throwing on…" Kankurou 'eep'ed. "…And I think I just found it…"

Kankurou ducked beneath the table and yelled, "I am sorry! Please don't kill me!"

"Only if Gaara can sit next me."

"But…" Kankurou peeked from the edge of the table only to find a quivering knife inches from his face. He looked up from the knife, to the hand that threw it, and came face to face with his nightmare.

"But…?" Temari repeated, an eyebrow raised.

"But nothing." Kankurou smiled weakly and Temari, after retrieving her knife, sat down with a satisfied smirk.

Gaara was stunned. Here, his two siblings fighting (one-sided) for whom he should sat next to. The very siblings whom only talked to him if it was necessarily. Heck, he could count the number of times they talked to him with his fingers on one hand, and with a few fingers left too. But now…

"Sit," Hitsuka said and gave Gaara a little push. Gaara looked at him and looked back at the table uncertainly. "Go on, this is what you want, right?" Hitsuka continued to encourage him.

"Just sit down so we can eat," Kankurou said gruffly but with no menace. He was eager to eat. It was, after all, the best dessert in the world a.k.a the world's best dessert. The dessert was a peeled banana covered in cream and chocolate sauce and wrapped in a pancake-like… thing… pancake.

With a smile that could rival Naruto's, Gaara shyly sat down beside her sister. With a whoop, Kankurou dug into his dessert. Temari followed in a more lady-like manner. Gaara looked at them for a few seconds before Temari reminded him to start eating. Soon, he joined his siblings.

From outside of the kitchen, Hitsuka listened to the exclaims of delight and the loud chatters. A soft smile appeared on his face as he decided to leave the Suna siblings on their own. They needed the time to be alone together.

Moving quietly, he was back on the roof and started to eat his dessert. A content sigh escaped him after the sweetness hit his taste buds. "This is so good!" he praised his own creation. Suddenly the smile was wiped off his face as he thought of someone precious to him. "I wish… Naruto is here."

He craned his neck backwards, staring not for the first that night into the starry sky. "I wonder what he is doing right now…"

__

_The next morning_

There was a knock on Gaara's room's door, where Hitsuka slept. Hitsuka, who was already up and moving, went to open the door. "Temari-san?"

Yes, it was Temari, who was fidgeting. "Umm… Hitsuka-kun. I just wanna… umm… thank you for last night," she said, a heavy blush was on her face. "Thank you." She bowed formally.

Hitsuka was flustered. It was uncommon for someone to bow so formally, ninety degrees, head down, etc. to him. "Do-Don't do this. Please Temari-san, I didn't do anything!" Hitsuka cried, looking anywhere but the girl in front of him. 'Damn. I've never been good with females.'

"Thank you so much for bringing us together," Temari said again then she dashed out of the room, too embarrassed. 'I should have just let Kankurou do it but… he's too irresponsible.'

"Right…" Hitsuka murmured, eyeing the trail of smoke left behind by the girl. 'I wonder where Gaara is. Although he doesn't sleep, he's usually in his room at night.'

Just then, the red haired boy walked in, looking very happy. "Hitsuka!" His eyes lit up when he saw the said boy.

"Where have you been?" asked a puzzled Hitsuka.

Gaara looked a bit embarrassed. "Heheh, I was watching my brother and sister as they slept."

"Really?" Hitsuka was a bit surprised. 'No wonder Temari was so umm… thankful. They finally trust each other enough to let the 'demon' of the village to sleep with them.' He grinned at Gaara and the red haired boy shyly returned it.

"Gaara-sama…" a distant voice called out.

"That's Yashamaru!" Gaara whipped his head around. "He said he'll start teaching me today!"

"Then go," Hitsuka encouraged and gave Gaara a light push. So Gaara happily ran out as Hitsuka laughed lightly. He looked out the window and sighed happily. It was a beautiful day and he thought, 'I shall go out for a walk later.' As he walking out of the room, he had a feeling that something good is going to happen

But… he didn't know how wrong he was until that afternoon. It would be best if he had stayed in the mansion where he had the protection of the Kazekage.

Gaara had just finished his very first training in taijutsu, and although he didn't do too well, he was still happy. An innocent grin that only a child could pull off was on his small face as he headed for home. Yashamaru had taken him out to the desert, away from the fearful eyes of the villagers.

'Yashamaru must like me!' Gaara thought happily. 'He had attacked me with no killing intent, otherwise my shield would have protected me!' It was understandable that he was happy that his Suna no Tate didn't activate (though Yashamaru wasn't able to get past Suna no Yoroi) because for as long as he could remember, those who were stupid enough to attack him (why, because they were stupid) always had enormous killing intent. He was tired of this stupid routine. They attacked, his shield activated, his sand hurt the stupid people (whom often end up dead anyways), end of story.

As he come closer and closer to home, readied to tell Hitsuka everything that Yashamaru had taught him today, he distinctively heard someone yelling. He looked around, wondering where it came from. Usually he wouldn't care about the random yelling. But this time, it was what he heard caught his attention. "You freak!"

Gaara, who was often called this, could not leave who ever was on the receiving end of the verbal abuse. He looked around and was able to find the source. It was from a dark alley with a few boxes blocking the way. He looked around, checking that no one was watching him, and then he slipped past the large boxes, which also efficiently blocked the people's view.

Stayed hidden in the shadow, Gaara's eyes widened in shock at what and whom he saw. What he saw was two Suna genins around ten, beating up a small kid, whom he recognised from the very distinctive white hair. Yes, it was Hitsuka being beat up. 'He is not fighting back!' he thought in panic. He was sure that Hitsuka had the ability to land a few punches on the bullies if not win from what he saw last night. 

But there he was, knees against his chest and arms protecting his head, leaving his back to take the brutal attacks.

Gaara was in a state of shock. So shocked he was, he didn't even attempt to help his friend straight away. He stood there, listening to what the bullies were saying. They were verbally abusing the poor Konoha resident. "You freak!" one yelled again. He brought his foot down upon the small back, and felt pleased as he heard the satisfying crack of broken bones. Hitsuka bit his bottom lip so hard that it was bleeding. He would not give the sadists the satisfaction of hearing him scream. Not even when his broken ribs were digging into his body.

"Yeah freak," the other one taunted, a bit put down that his victim wasn't screaming. "You must be a coward and so afraid of us that you can't even squeak!" The bullies laughed, delighted at the idea.

Hitsuka smirked, "I must disagree with you. You are the cowards, attacking someone who is smaller than you." He looked straight into the angry eyes of his attackers. His gold eyes shone in the dark with not fear but anger. "I will rather die than fear cowards like you."

With angry roars, the bullies rained punches and kicks down at the small body. They had been keeping their voice down before but now, with anger clouding their minds, they no longer cared. Their fists pulled back with blood not their own and punched. Yelling and mocking the whole time. "You must be a monster too! Just like Gaara!" one yelled, and unknown to him, their hidden watcher flinched.

"Yeah! Or you must be paid by Kazekage-sama. Otherwise, who would be stupid enough to befriend that monster!" the other taunted and his partner picked up this idea.

"Yeah kid," he sneered, grabbing Hitsuka by his hair and lifted the boy's head up. He looked into the boy's angry gold eyes. "How much did you get paid? I bet your parents forced you into this, eh? They must be delighted to get such easy money."

Gaara shook his head, trying to get these nasty ideas out from his mind. Tear poured down his face as he tried to stifle any noise made by his voice box with his hands. But no matter how hard he tried, he could not get the idea of Hitsuka only being friend with him because he was paid. 'All these happy memories… are they fake?' he thought in despair. But a second after he thought that, he was proven wrong by Hitsuka.

With a snarl, Hitsuka swiped the feet of the bullies from under their heavy bodies. He smirked in satisfaction as he heard the painful thumps and cries from the bigger boys. With a lot of pain, he stood up. He looked at his attackers with cold eyes, sending fear down their spines. He started to talk as the boys trembled in terror, "For your information, I did not get paid, my parents are already dead and I… I had come willingly. I see Gaara as my friend and one of my precious people." His body started to sway, but he wasn't finished. "Don't you dare say anything bad about him. You will regret it."

Without warning, Hitsuka suddenly collapsed. The genin jumped up with new courage. "Ha! You are not in the position to make any threats," one cried out, bringing his foot down again to inflict more pain upon the boy. He wanted to, but sand got in the way.

"Don't you dare hurt him anymore," Gaara said threatening, coming out from the shadow. The two genin suddenly realised they were in deep trouble. Fear was in every single cell of their bodies. They wanted to run and hide but sand was holding them in place and slowly creeping up their bodies. Soon, it has them in its deadly embrace of Sabaku Kyuu (Desert Coffin).

Their pleas and excuses fell on the deaf ears of Gaara. "Don't you dare hurt my precious person!" he red haired child yelled, holding his opened hands up, readied to let the two morons had a taste of his fatal jutsu. "Sabaku-"

"No Gaara!" Hitsuka yelled, bringing Gaara to a stop. Gaara turned his wide surprised eyes towards the fallen body of his friend. "Don't kill them," Hitsuka told the boy quietly, not having enough strength to yell again.

Ignoring the relief cries of his captives, Gaara rushed to put Hitsuka into a sitting position, being very gentle. "Why? They hurt you so badly! Why, Hitsuka?" he questioned the now heavily breathing boy. "Why?"

"Because, Gaara," Hitsuka panted, his eyes loosing focus from the lost of blood and pain. "Because I don't want you to become a killer at such a young age. They are not worth it. They are not worth it…" 

Finally, unconsciousness mercifully took him away, leaving the young boy alone with his words. Hitsuka's final thoughts were: 'This is almost like a déjà vu. Last time I fell unconscious like this was because Naruto was kidnapped. Hmm… why do things like this always happen to me?'

"Gaara-sama!" Yashamaru's panicking voice came into Gaara's hearing range. "Hitsuka!"

"We're here, Yashamaru!" Gaara yelled and released the two now crying genins from his sand prison. They sat down heavily on their wet buttocks and stared at Gaara with horror-filled eyes.

"Gaara-sama!" Yashamaru pushed past the boxes, causing a few to tumble on to ground, a relief smile on his face. "You're safe! Where is Hitsu- Oh Kami-sama!" His relief turned into horror when he saw the state Hitsuka was in. "What the hell happened to him!"

"Those two idiots attacked him," Gaara muttered, glaring hatefully at the two bullies. He stood aside and let Yashamaru to attend to Hitsuka. After all, the man was a member of the medical team and he knew his stuff.

"I need to take him to the hospital," Yashamaru said, gently lifting the battered body of the boy up.

"What about them?" Gaara asked, not wanting the bullies to get away with this crime.

"Don't worry, they won't get away with this," Yashamaru told his charge. "Their crime of attacking a guest of Kazekage-sama will not be overlooked," he said while looking sternly at the trembling pair with barely concealed anger. "Let's go."

_Kazekage's office_

"Kazekage-sama!" the two genin squeaked, not looking at their leader who was blazing with rage.

"Two broken and three cracked ribs, a bruised kidney and a punctured lung, a broken arm and a large amount of blood lost," the Kazekage hissed, slamming down a file on his desk, making the two boys jumped. "It is a miracle that my guest, my guest from Konohagakure is still alive and breathing. Don't you know how important that boy is!"

"No!" the boys squeaked in fright. They honestly didn't know a lot about Hitsuka. They only knew that he was a boy who played with the monster of Sunagakure. From what their parents had been telling them, they hated the poor red-haired child although why they hated him they could not explain to the fullness. But there was also fear, which prevented them to bully the Kazekage's son. So when they saw Hitsuka, someone close to Gaara, it was an opportunity too hard to resist. So, they took it, not thinking of the consequences. Now they are in deep, deep trouble.

The Kazekage slowly sat down behind his desk, his eyes never left the cowering genin. He spoke slowly, "I'll tell you how important he is. If he dies in the hands of our ninja, we may have a war with one of the strongest village right on our doorstep. Do you understand now, fools. For such a crime, you are to be punished." He ignored the boys' whimpering as he continued, "You are going to be jailed for twelve months and your families have to pay Yuki Hitsuka a large amount of compensate money, I'll send you the details later. Also, your ninja statuses are to be taken away and you will never have another chance of becoming a shinobi."

"WHAT!" Evidently, the two boys' surprise overcame their fear. They never thought that the white-haired boy was that important.

"You are dismissed," the Kazekage said coldly, leaving no room for discussion. The two boys, who shamed their families and could never ever become the fine ninja that they had wanted to be, hung their heads and left after they bowed.

The Kazekage sighed deeply, massaging his forehead with his fingers. His right hand man, Baki, stepped forward from the shadows. "Kazekage-sama…" he murmured.

"How is the brat?" the man asked.

"His condition is stable but he is still unconscious. He is under the care of Sunagakure best medical team."

"What about Gaara."

"Gaara-sama is still by Hitsuka's side. He seemed to be troubled," Baki answered, keeping his head low as a sign of respect.

The most powerful man of Sunagakure sighed again. "From what I have heard from the two brats before, Gaara had used Sabaku Kyuu and was prepared to use Sabaku Sousou (Desert Graveyard) to do some serious damage if not to kill," he said, deep in thought and completely ignoring Baki. "He is not stable enough. I was hoping with a kid as his playmate, he'll be calmer and I'll be able to control him better. No, I have the responsibility of the safety of my village; I'll have to have it done."

"Excuse me for interrupting, sir, but what is it that has to be done?" Baki asked, still keeping his head low.

The Kazekage shifted his attention to Baki and replied, "Gaara has to be destroyed."

_In the hospital_

"Urgh…" Hitsuka groan as he woke up, blinking to get sleepiness out from his eyes. 'Where am I?' he thought, looking around him. He was in a small but clean room and was lying on a bed. 'A white room with a bed… I was beaten up by some punks… so I am in the hospital! Man, I am a genius!' If anyone could hear what Hitsuka was thinking, he or she would have a sweat-drop on his or her head.

He finally noticed a little red haired boy staring at him. "Umm… Hi, Gaara," Hitsuka greeted, squirming a bit. He wasn't used to being stared at so intensely.

Gaara didn't greet back. More staring from his part and more squirming from Hitsuka. "Why…" Gaara started, still staring; as if he blinked Hitsuka would vanish. As he continued, his voice started to rise in volume, "Why didn't you defend yourself? Do you know you could be killed? Do you know how worried I've been? Are you stupid or crazy or…"

Hitsuka covered Gaara's mouth before he could use every single word in the dictionary that means stupid or crazy or etc. Gaara protested in a muffled voice, grabbing Hitsuka's arm with his hands. But Hitsuka was stronger so the Suna boy couldn't pry the hand off without the aid of his sand, which he wasn't going to use for the fear of hurting the Konoha boy more. "If I answer all your questions, will you stop yelling?" Hitsuka asked. Gaara could detect mirth in his voice.

Wanting to talk to the stupid boy (or so Gaara thought), Gaara nodded a bit reluctantly. Slowly, Hitsuka drew his hand away. "Now, let's talk _calmly_," Hitsuka suggested lightly, emphasising 'calmly'.

Gaara huffed but calmed down anyway. "Why didn't you defend yourself?" he snapped, but Hitsuka could see worry in his eyes.

Hitsuka gently lay back, sighing in content when he was surrounded by the over-stuffed white pillow. He answered Gaara's question quickly when he saw the boy's murderous looks, "I did defend myself, just not very efficiently. My training in taijutsu is not advanced enough for me to fend off every attack."

"I don't believe you," Gaara muttered, looking at Hitsuka's surprised face. "If that's the case, why didn't you attack? From what I have saw last night, you are capable to hurt those idiots as well!"

"Unfortunately, I am actually not capable of using my taijutsu in attacking too. Well, not well enough anyway." Hitsuka raised a hand to stop Gaara's protest. "From what you have saw last night, you said. Well, what I did last night was repeating three taijutsu moves over and over again, trying to make my movements as smooth as possible. You see, Gaara, I've only learnt taijutsu for about two weeks. So I'm actually not that good."

"That doesn't explain why you didn't at least try to attack," Gaara pointed out, looking hard at the other boy. "Explain yourself!"

"Okay, okay! There is no need to be angry." If looks could kill, Hitsuka will be a pile of ashes now, flying freely in the wind with other ashes and dusts which used to be humans, like Hitsuka, only got killed, like Hitsuka, by Gaara, like Hitsuka. "Umm… anyways, I'll tell you why. The reason why I didn't attack was because I would bring shame to Konoha and your father. You see, Gaara," he explained when Gaara blinked questioningly at him. "I am a guest of your father from Konoha, right?" Gaara nodded. "So if words got out that I attacked two of the genin from your village, though I was the one that got attacked first, it'll look bad on both Hokage-sama and Kazekage-sama. So, to protect their reputation, I'll have to make the small sacrifice of getting injured."

"Small? It's not a small sacrifice at all! You could've died!" Gaara said heatedly. "You could've died…"

"But I am still alive, aren't I?" Hitsuka smiled. Gaara pouted then he surprised Hitsuka by jumping on to the bed and gave Hitsuka a hug. "Gaara?"

"Please don't do that again," Gaara sobbed, wetting the front of Hitsuka's hospital white shirt. "I don't want you to disappear, not when you are one of my most important people. Promise me that you won't do any sort of things like that again!"

"Gaara, it can't be avoided if I want to be a shinobi-"

"I don't care! Promise me," Gaara cut in, now staring intensely into Hitsuka's eyes.

Knowing Gaara's concern, Hitsuka gave his word, "I promise." With a sigh of relief, Gaara turned to lie next to Hitsuka, who asked, "Any more questions?"

Silence greeted him. Understood that Gaara needed some time, Hitsuka kept quiet too. After awhile, Gaara suddenly asked, "Hitsuka… What is… pain?"

"Huh?" Hitsuka turned to look the other boy in surprise. 'This conversation… I know this conversation. He's supposed to have it with Yashamaru!'

Seeing the surprise look on Hitsuka's face, Gaara quickly explained, "I never get injured so… I wonder what it is like…"

Hitsuka tried to remember what the Yashamaru said in the manga before he answered, "It's umm… physical suffering or discomfort up to a point where you feel like you're unable to stay in your usual self." He scratched the back of his head and smile sheepishly. "I am not quite sure how to explain it but I know from personal experience that it is unpleasant."

"Is that so…" Gaara mumbled, then he looked at Hitsuka. "Then… am I injured like everyone else?"

'Here it comes,' Hitsuka thought, knowing what the next question would be.

Gaara grabbed his top, above where his heart would be. "It's not hurting quite as much lately but… I feel pain… Although it doesn't bleed… this part hurts so much…"

Hitsuka shifted himself so he could hug Gaara who hugged back. "Bodies bleed when they have physical injuries and although they may look quite painful, with time they will heal. They can heal faster with medical attention," Hitsuka said quietly and Gaara listened. "But what are more serious are emotional scars… they are the hardest to heal."

"Emotional scars?" Gaara wondered out loud.

"Yes Gaara, and those are what you've got." Gaara looked up to look at Hitsuka, unanswered questions on his lips. "Shh… Listen to me first," Hitsuka shushed, placing a finger on the red-haired boy's lips. "Unlike physical injuries, emotional scars can not be healed with any ointment or medical aid. In fact, they may never be healed."

Gaara looked down in pain, thinking that this pain in his heart might never disappear. "But," Hitsuka added, lifting Gaara's chin up with his hand so Gaara was facing him again, "there is one thing that can cure such pain. Such cure can only be given by someone other than yourself."

"What is it?" Gaara asked urgently.

"Didn't you say that lately, it isn't hurting as bad as before?" Hitsuka asked and Gaara nodded in confirmation. "That is because you're already receiving the cure from me and, I am pretty sure, from Yashamaru-san too. The cure, though it sounds like it's from a sappy/soppy/fluffy movie, is love."

"You and Yashamaru… love me?"

"Yes, I can say I definitely had grown fond of you and that is one kind of love," Hitsuka grinned. "And I saw the way Yashamaru-san looked at you. His looks were filled with fatherly-love!"

"Really!" Gaara said happily.

Silence settled itself around the small room again while both boys stared at the ceiling. One tried to understand the whole things about emotional scars and love. The other boy was wondering about three things: 1) did he screwed up on the 'pain speech', 2) why wasn't his body hurting like last time, and 3) why the hell wasn't that person outside his room coming in? That person had been standing there for the last ten to twenty minutes.

"Gaara-sama, Hitsuka." A man's voice, along with the squeak of an opening door, broke the silence.

Both boys recognised the voice and spoke at the same time, "Yashamaru/Yashamaru-san!"

It was indeed Yashamaru walking into the room. Behind him was a nurse in her mid-twenties, who was trembling slightly. Yashamaru threw a glance at Hitsuka and sighed. "Hitsuka, Hitsuka, you naughty boy," he said with a frown but Hitsuka could see that he was just joking. "You had us worried, that is for sure."

"How badly was I injured this time?" Hitsuka asked, lifting up his sleeves to look at his arms for the first time. Surprisingly enough, they were bruise-free. "What the…" He lifted up his shirt to inspect his body. Bruise-free and bones unbroken. "Yashamaru-san, what…" Unable to find the right words, he indicated his body with his hand.

Looking very sternly with hidden relief and fatherly-love, Yashamaru said, "We had to have the best medical team to heal you. You nearly had to go back home in a small box! Do you know that!?"

Hitsuka had a look of utter surprise on his face when he heard this piece of information. "That serious?" he muttered in disbelieve. "But why… umm… am I bruise-free?"

"You said it yourself," Yashamaru said absent-mindedly, betraying that it was him that had been eavesdropping. "It'll look bad for the Kazekage if you still have injuries after the attack by the now ex-genin of the Suna. Now, you'll have the last check-up by the nurse," he pointed to the lady behind, "Before you are allowed to go."

Hitsuka nodded and looked at the frightened nurse. He trembling got worse as she got closer to the bed, which was occupied by the two boys. 'Those eyes…' Gaara thought, flinching slightly. 'Those eyes again…'

Hitsuka noticed the flinch, knowing the reason behind it he suggested, "Gaara, why don't you go home first? I'll find you when I am finished."

Gratitude showed in Gaara's eyes as he jumped up and followed Hitsuka's suggestion. Relief instantly showed on the frighten nurse's face when Gaara ran out of the door. Her movements weren't as jerky as before and soon, she was going through the process of checking. Hitsuka followed the nurse's instructions while Yashamaru stood back to give them room.

Suddenly, a knock was heard from the door and, being the nearest to the door, Yashamaru opened it. "Kazekage-sama!" he cried out in surprise and instantly bowed. Looking startled, the nurse bowed as well followed by Hitsuka, who bowed rather awkwardly from his sitting position on the bed.

The Kazekage swept in with his long sandy-coloured robe, following behind him was Baki. His emotionless face turned to look at a slightly sweating Hitsuka then he did the unexpected. He bowed. Although it wasn't a ninety degrees bow (it wasn't even forty-five degrees), it was clearly a bow. Throughout the whole history of Sunagakure, from the creation of the village to that moment, not once, not half of a once (did that make sense?) did a Kazekage bowed to a mere three-year-old. The nurse nearly fainted in surprise; Yashamaru, Baki and Hitsuka had turned into living human statues.

After a few seconds, everyone was still in the same position. Nervously, Hitsuka realised that he had to say something. "Eh… Kazekage-sama? Wh-Why are you-"

The Kazekage interrupted before Hitsuka could finish, "I am here to apologise for the irresponsible actions of the two residents of my village. They have been taken care of and I do hope there are no harsh feelings between us."

Knowing that if he said yes, there were harsh feelings, he would be very rude. So he had to accept the apology even though he kind of wanted to take care of the two morons himself. "Please, Kazekage-sama, there are no harsh feelings so please stop umm… stop what you are doing!"

'Mmm… that sounded rather dodgy," Hitsuka thought in amusement.

The Kazekage straightened his back, face still emotionless and nodded. He ordered the nurse to make sure that Hitsuka was fine and told Yashamaru to follow him. Before he left, Yashamaru gave Hitsuka a smile and told him he should be back soon.

_Outside Hitsuka's room_

"Yashamaru, I am giving you a mission which I am sure you'll accept," the Kazekage said coldly, looking at the man before him.

"Yes, Kazekage-sama," Yashamaru said, waiting for the mission.

"My son, Gaara of the Desert, is to be assassinated tonight. I am giving you this mission for you are the closest to him and have higher chance of success. I'll wait for the good news tomorrow morning," Finished saying that, the Kazekage didn't even wait for Yashamaru to bow before he turned and walked away. He never gave the poor man the opportunity to decide.

Yashamaru stood there, not moving. His face was deathly pale. 'Assassinate Gaara-sama? My… nephew?' he thought in disbelieve. Before Hitsuka came, he would gladly accept this mission even though the chance of him dying during the mission was very high. But now… he wasn't sure anymore. He wasn't sure if he hated the boy or not. A mission given by the Kazekage could not be turned down easily if he valued his life. Should he do it?

Yashamaru walked away slowly, forgetting what he had told Hitsuka a few minutes ago. He was going back to gear up. He had a mission to complete.

_On the roof of the Kazekage's house_

'Why me?' Gaara thought in despair. Every day, he was being haunted by those eyes. He had thought over what Hitsuka said and he was glad that someone loved him. But, the looks that the nurse and the villagers gave him weren't making his life easier. 'How come… only I am such a monster? What exactly am I?'

_The cure, though it sounds like it's from a sappy/soppy/fluffy movie, is love._

"Hitsuka…"

Suddenly, his sand shield was activated, protecting him from the multiple attacks or flying kunai. He whirled around and saw a masked ninja clad in the standard jounin uniform. Kunai were floating around the ninja, being held up by chakra strings, readied to make the next attack.

'What? Why?' Gaara thought in surprise. 'Why me… Only me!' Sudden anger destroyed any kind of rational thoughts. While his Suna no Tate protected him from the kunai attacks launched by the mystery ninja, he activated his deadly jutsu, Sabaku Sousou, nearly killing the ninja but not quite.

With the adrenalin gone from his body, Gaara started to tremble. 'Who? Why?' he asked himself, moving slowly to the fallen ninja. With a trembling hand, he slowly reached to pull off the mask. Whom he saw had instantly broke his heart.

"Impressive… Gaara-sama…" a bloody Yashamaru said weakly, smiling up at his nephew.

'Yashamaru…' Gaara thought, his eyes widened to an almost impossible size.

_And I saw the way Yashamaru-san looked at you. His looks were filled with fatherly-love!_

He fell to his knees, "UAAAHHH!" then he started screaming. A scream filled with pure grief and sorrow.

Not too far away, Hitsuka heard the scream. He had been running all the way from the hospital, fearing for the worst. That scream had confirmed his one of his worst nightmares. "Shit!" he muttered under his breath then he used his chakra, first time in weeks, by pushing it into his legs to give him a boost of speed. With all his might, he hoped he would be there before anything regrettable would happen.

"AHHH! Ahh! Ahh…!" Gaara's screams gradually died down while Yashamaru spat out more blood. The man feebly turned his head to look at the now crying boy. "Why… Why you? Why…?" Gaara asked. He was confused; he thought that Yashamaru loved him. But the man was trying to kill him now. Why?

Trying to wipe away his non-stopping flows of tears, he said, "Always… You were always there… You were one of my…"

Huffing because of the injuries, Yashamaru said, "It was an order." This caught Gaara attention. "I was ordered to assassinate you." Confusion and shock showed on the boy's face. "By your father… Kazekage-sama."

Horror struck Gaara. 'My father…' Bile rose in his throat and he bent over to puke. Yashamaru watched silently. "Father… Why… would he want me dead?" he asked, he had to know and Yashamaru told him.

"You were born to be possessed by the Suna Shukaku… Until today, you have been watched over as an experimental subject… But, you are yet unable to control the powers of the living spirit Shukaku… Your existence will become too dangerous to the village and we couldn't let that happen…"

Although he was still in pain by Yashamaru's betrayal, an idea occurred to Gaara. "Then… you had no choice… It was because of father…" he asked hopefully, hoping that he was right. But…

"No. You are wrong…" Yashamaru denied, dashing Gaara's hope. "Yes, I did receive Kazekage-sama's order. But I would've declined it if I wanted to…" He paused, thinking over what he was going to say next. He continued, "Gaara-sama, deep down inside… I must've always hated you… for coming into this world stealing my beloved sister's life…" He looked at the shocked Gaara. "I tried my best to love you by thinking of you as her memento… but I couldn't…"

"Why do you lie?" suddenly, a new voice joined this depressing conversation. Both Gaara and Yashamaru turned their head to look at the new arrival. It was Hitsuka. He had climbed the walls of the Kazekage's house in order to get to the roof as fast as possible. He was panting and huffing and seemed barely able to stand.

"I didn't lie…" Yashamaru strained to say that. His vision was starting to get blurry. "I didn't-"

He was cut off by an angry Hitsuka, "You are lying! I saw the way you looked at Gaara. You know you love him! So why are you doing this!"

Gaara, confused, didn't know what to believe. One said that he hated him but the other disagreed. He heard sobbing and he was shocked to find Yashamaru crying. "Why… are you crying?" he asked the man with concern. In his heart, Yashamaru was still his most precious person.

"I am sorry, Gaara-sama," Yashamaru said while crying. "If I don't take the mission I'll die and more assassins will come to kill you. I didn't want that happen so I rather die by your hands and teach you a lesson on life so you'll survive in the future."

Hitsuka walked forward and knelt by the man's side. "But don't you know what Gaara might be like in the future?" he asked sadly. "He won't be able to trust anyone and kill more people! Is that what you want for your nephew?"

"But it's better than he dies," Yashamaru gasped out, filled with emotion.

"He won't die if you are there by his side," Hitsuka said firmly and he looked at Gaara, fearing for the worst. "Gaara?"

Gaara looked at them, one at a time. Then he said quietly, "So you don't hate me?"

"No Gaara-sama…"

"You were lying before?"

"Yes…"

"Good," Gaara said in satisfaction, a smile on his tiny face. "I knew you wouldn't abandon me."

'Gaara-sama,' Yashamaru thought, too filled with emotion to say anything. He saw Hitsuka reaching out to unzip his jounin vest. "What are you doing?"

"Have you forgotten your last attack?" Hitsuka asked, hands working fast. He grabbed a fallen kunai, belonging to Yashamaru, and cut the man's black shirt. It was full of explosion notes. "Hurry, hurry! They are going to explode soon!" Indeed they were, they were starting to smoke.

"How… did you know?" asked a flabbergasted Yashamaru.

"No time for explanation!" Hitsuka cried, pulling the now cut up vest off Yashamaru and looked around frantically. "What to do? What to do?" His eyes landed on a worried Gaara. "Gaara! Use your sand and create a dome around this vest. Hurry!"

"Ye-Yes!" Gaara followed Hitsuka's instruction. Soon, a perfect dome was created, with the vest and the explosion tags safely inside. A muffled boom later, the danger was gone.

Hitsuka crumpled to ground and sighed in relief. 'Safe' he thought.

"Yashamaru!" Hitsuka heard Gaara cried and he was instantly by the man's side. Yashamaru was badly hurt and if he didn't get medical help soon, he would die.

"Gaara, you'll need to use your sand to create a stretcher under Yashamaru. We need to take him to the hospital," Hitsuka said urgently, checking Yashamaru's pulse. The man was unconscious but very much alive. "Let's go!"

"Yes!"

_Two days later, in the hospital_

"Yashamaru-san."

"Hitsuka, it's great to see you," Yashamaru greeted the white-haired boy, returning the boy's smile.

"How are you doing?"

"Doing fine. All my serious injuries had been taken care of, now I only have minor cuts and bruises," Yashamaru replied. "I am not as lucky as you are." Meaning that he wasn't as important so he didn't get the best treatments that the village could offer.

"Right." Abruptly, Hitsuka's face changed from cheerful expression to a more serious one. "Yashamaru-san, I must ask you to do me a favour."

Sensing the change of the atmosphere, Yashamaru replied equally serious, "Whatever is in my power. You are the one that changed Gaara-sama and my life."

"Thank you, that was a great compliment," Hitsuka said, blushing slightly. "What I am going to ask you to do is that NEVER tell Gaara what his name means and his mother's grudge."

"What! How did you know?" Yashamaru asked, sitting up swiftly.

Hitsuka didn't reply but looked at Yashamaru. The man couldn't describe the look. It was full of mystery, that was for sure, but there was a tint of sadness and anger mixed in it. Hitsuka could not tell him, it wasn't because he didn't want to.

'I want to tell him the truth because he is a good man like the Hyuuga brothers. But… I can't! If this information leeks out, he will be in danger! He is not as strong as Hiashi or Hizashi so I'll be endangering him and Gaara!' Hitsuka thought, willing the man in front of him to understand. 'I still want your trust…'

"Fine," Yashamaru sighed. "I won't ask and I won't tell Gaara-sama. It's the best for him."

Hitsuka grinned, bubbling with happiness and warmth that someone else had decided to trust him. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

_The last day of Hitsuka's stay_

"Do you have to go?" Gaara asked Hitsuka in a teary voice. "Do you have to?"

"Yes Gaara, I have to. There is someone waiting for me at home," Hitsuka replied, smiling at Gaara. "Someone like you."

"Then you mustn't keep that lucky person waiting," a teary smile broke on the boy's face.

"Here, this is for you." Hitsuka handed Gaara a wrapped present. He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "I know it's not your birthday yet but it's coming up soon, so I thought I should give you something."

Awe and happiness shone from the red-haired boy's face. "For me? Really? Thank you so much, Hitsuka!" Gaara yelled, giving the other boy a bone-crushing hug. "Thank you!"

"It's OK. I hope you'll like it," Hitsuka replied.

"Hitsuka! We are leaving now!" Kakashi yelled. He had come to escort Hitsuka back to Konoha, a mission he had gladly accepted. For some reason, he liked spending time with this boy.

"Coming!" Hitsuka yelled back. He turned to look at Gaara and Yashamaru. He bowed. "Thank you for your hospitality for the last two weeks. I'll never forget my time here."

"The pleasures are ours," Yashamaru replied, he and Gaara bowed too.

"You have to come back and stay again!" Gaara said, bouncing to give Hitsuka one last hug.

"Stay strong, Gaara. Stay strong for yourself, for Yashamaru-san and for me," Hitsuka told Gaara. "Remember, there are people who love you. So never break down and give in to the temptation of evil. You're so pure, so innocent so please don't taint them for they are hard to have. Stay strong."

Later, when Hitsuka was gone, Gaara opened his present. It was two photos in a large photo frame, both photo contain two people in it. One was he and Hitsuka laughing together, playing in the sand box. The other one, it was Yashamaru hugging him, a warm smile on his face. It was then, Gaara finally understood, what Hitsuka meant when he said that Yashamaru looked at Gaara with love in his eyes.

* * *

Umm… I think this chapter is a bit too fluffy but we are talking about a kid here. The ending is a bit rushed because I want to go on to the next scene in next chapter.

Please review! The reviews are very important to me because then I can understand what I am doing wrong or simply knowing that someone is reading this fanfic.

So… **PLEASE REVIEW! THEY WILL BE WELL APPRECIATED BY ME! THANK YOU!**


	14. Chapter 14

Sorry people for the late, late, LATE update. My excuses are that 1) I had my school practice exam, 2) I had my flute exam, and 3) I ran out of ideas. So I am sorry for this late chapter. I hope you'll like it. Also, to those who reviewed and said that I can't use script writing in fanfic, don't worry, I went back and changed all that.

_Falling Right Side-Up: Thank you so much for your compliments! I'm feeling warm and fuzzy now. I agree with the Kazekage getting killed by Orochimaru but I'm not sure what will happen in my fic. By the way, Hitsuka told Gaara about not knowing enough taijutsu was true. Although I made him into an anbu, he's still suck at being a ninja. The only reason that I made him an anbu so I could have a better excuse for shipping him off to Sunanokuni. Thank you so much again and I'm so sorry for not updating sooner. . _

_Dragon Man 180: Yeah I know. Thank you so much for your review._

_Inu-Angel Z: I'm so sorry for the wait. I got you to wait again. Thanks for the review._

_Night-Owl123: Thank you so much for the compliment! You think my fic is well written? Thank you! I'm so sorry for the late and slow update! I'm sorry!_

_Gaara The Sandwarrior: Thank you so much for the encouragement! I'm sorry that I update so slowly. I'll try and cure that habit. Thanks. :p_

_Punjabi Patipees: Did you really jump up and down like a retard? I'm happy that I can get a reaction like this out of anyone! Thank you and sorry for updating so slow._

_Arnoldstrife: I have no idea what the future is going to be like. I'll just… go with the drift. Sorry for the late update, been having a few problems. Hope you like this chapter._

_Devilz-Fallen: You thought that was cute? Thanks, I was going for the cute and fuzzy things. Sorry for the late update._

_koolanimefreek: Thank you for your review! I am sorry for the late update. . _

_Rishan: I'm sorry for the late, late update. Did you really check 3 times a day everyday? I feel so happy! Yay! I hope you like this chapter too._

_Rika-San: Did you really feel fluffy inside? Aw thank you! Sorry for the late update._

_GMan: I'm sorry fir the late update. I hope you don't forget my fic. I'll try to update as soon as possible. _

_Dragon Noir: Thank you for your review, it's so detailed! Thanks for the tip and you'll see in this chapter I… Thanks for the correction as well._

_Toki Mirage: Thank you for your review. Sorry for the late update._

_chaosknight: Did you think my story is great? Thank you! Sorry for the late update._

_rurouniturtle: You were actually happy to read my writing style again? Thank you so much, that's a great compliment! I'm sorry for the slow update so I guess those weird bunnies that came knocking on my door were yours?_

_animewatcher: You thought my first chapter was good? Thank you! Thank you so much for your second review too! Here's the next chapter._

_Skuld's Sentaro4: 'Mum! Someone loves my story!' cough Yeah, that was me. Thank you and um… sorry for the late update._

_MingShun: Thank you so much for your compliments! Thank you._

_Anonumus: Who every you're, thank you for your review._

_kawaiineziumi: Sorry for the slow update, I hope you'll like this chapter._

_delicheese: What's so mean? Oh you meant the first chapter. Yeah I know but it had to be done. sniff Thank you for your compliments, I like them!_

_XTakaX27: Really, did you have fun? I hope you did. Thank you!_

_ShinigamiSlashGirl: Thank you for liking this story! Sorry for the late update and for your question, read this chapter and you'll see. I don't know about the Yondaime though…_

_firebirds416: Sorry, I didn't update asap but I hope you'll still read my fic. Thank you!_

_kae-chu: Sorry! I didn't update sooner. I hope you'll like this chapter._

_NekoGuyFan: You love this fic? Really? Thank you! Sorry for not updating sooner._

Disclaimer: Nearly forgot this thing. I don't own anyone and anything that's in Naruto but I do own Hitsuka so hands off. Now!

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

**Kyuubi talking**

-Shion talking-

* * *

Chapter fourteen

"Get your asses back here now so I can censor censor censor and censor x5!"

This was what greeted the villagers of Konoha first thing in the morning. They turned their heads towards the voice and met the almighty Death himself. They watched as Death stormed past them, leaving cracked earth and a burning trail of fire behind. The villagers should be afraid and run in fear, shut and lock their doors and windows, hide under the weak protection of their duvets and shiver pathetically in fear.

But they didn't. Yes, they were watching Death himself. Yes, Death had the power to crush them. But even if Death's targets were them, they would die of laughing too hard before he actually reaches them. Why, you might ask. It was because Death had fallen into the evil hands of the Leaf's Evil Prankster Trio.

Death was in fact, a Hyuuga who was extremely proud of his long flowing black hair, like the rest of the clan. I, as the authoress of this fanfic, will start from the very beginning of this tragic, funny, hilarious, sad, angry, etc. (you get the idea) story.

That morning, the unfortunate Hyuuga (of course he didn't know that) woke up at precisely 5.30am and got up. At precisely 5.40am, he walked into his private bathroom and began his shower. Smiling very slightly (could be seen under a microscope) as he reached his favourite part of this morning ritual: washing his shining, fabulous hair.

With a measuring cup in one hand and a shampoo bottle ('Hyuuga Shine!') in another, he carefully measured out exactly 45 millilitres of shampoo. He lathered up the shampoo with 20 millilitres of water and applied it to his hair. With precise strokes, no movements wasted, he washed his hair. He went through everything not too fast but not too slow either, still with the same precision. After his careful rinsed down, 45 millilitres of conditioner and another rinse, he walked out to dry and to dress himself. It was when he stepped in front of his lovely, big mirror (where he often flexed his muscles in private), did he noticed something… different.

For the first time since any life appeared on the face of Earth, a high pitch, girly scream was heard in the Hyuuga mansion (as you are well aware of, Hyuuga don't scream because of their Hyuuga pride). "AAARRRGGGHHH!" Before the echoes of the scream died down, over hundreds of pairs of Byakugan turned on and saw the hilarious and very naked disaster. The targeted Hyuuga's hair had somehow changed colour. It turned into a mixture of neon pink and neon green and neon etc.

On the other side of the mansion, three children burst out laughing. One was laughing so hard that tears had escaped his eyes and was rolling on the ground, clutching his aching stomach. The other one was trembling in silent laughter. One hand on his mouth to stop himself laughing out loud and the other around his throbbing stomach. The last of the three, the only girl, shyly giggled, finding both their prank and the boys' antic funny.

"His coming!" the silent laughter, with his Byakugan on, gasped out. Indeed, the furious Hyuuga had noticed them and was coming towards them like an angry bull.

"Run!" the boy on the ground cried out, finding the situation very funny. He grabbed the girl's hand and started to run with the other boy leading the way. Being smaller, they had the advantage of crawling through their tiny secret tunnels and holes. Leaving the older Hyuuga wanting to tear the place down to just get them. In his anger-clouded mind (it was about his most precious hair, of course he would be mad and piss off), he had forgotten that he had something called chakra and jutsu, and also the fact that he was a Leaf shinobi. For the safety of our cute little chibi, let's not remind the Hyuuga that particular piece of information.

By the time the Hyuuga got out of the mansion, the chibi were already gone, hiding in some unknown place. And that brought us back to the beginning of this story. "Get your asses back here now so I can censor censor censor and censor x5!"

With his Byakugan still activated (it was a nature thing for the Hyuuga to do, so he still didn't remember the fact that he was a jounin), the Hyuuga went searching for the Prankster Trio (whom we all very well).

"It's a pity that we couldn't see his face!" said Naruto. "That was brilliant!"

"Bu-But don't you think we we-went to far this time? Naruto-kun," Hinata shyly stuttered, eyeing the tan hand that was holding her white one. "We cou-could be in deep trouble!"

"Nah I don't think we went too far, Hinata-chan," Naruto yelled, flashing a grin at the girl. "We'll be perfectly fine!"

"Beside, that guy deserves every single moment of this prank," Neji muttered and turned his head to look at the younger pair behind him. "After all, he did call Naruto some nasty things." He was referring to something that happened around three days ago. The Hyuuga (the pranksters' target) sneered at Naruto when the three kids were training together.

"Heh," he scoffed, talking and laughing with his companion. "That stupid fox brat will never be as great as the Hyuuga, no matter how hard he tries. I don't understand how Hyuuga-sama can stand this stupid brat." The kids heard every single word. Hinata and Neji looked at Naruto who was pretending that he didn't hear anything. But deep inside, he was planning a prank. A prank that even Hitsuka would be proud of.

"Neji-nii-san, look out!"

Hinata's warning was a few seconds too late. While Neji was still walking down his memory lane, he had run into someone. "Oommff!" The person he ran into fell on his bottom and him on the top.

"I am so sorry!" Neji apologised and looked up to see whom he had bumped into. Lavender-white eyes met gold eyes. "Hitsuka!" Neji blushed slightly when he recognised whom he was lying on top of. Indeed it was Hitsuka with Kakashi looking amused at the side.

"Hi Neji-san, Hinata-san and- ouch!" Hitsuka yelped in pain when his backside landed on the ground again. Neji was helping him up when Naruto ran him over.

"Hitsuka! Hitsuka!" Naruto cried out in happiness, hugging the said boy to his early death. A punch and a yell of pain from Naruto later, Hitsuka was released from the death hold. The blond child gingerly touched the throbbing lump on his head and winced.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata said worryingly, crouching down to kneel next to the injured boy, whom secretly enjoyed the attention.

"What was that for?" Naruto whined at Hitsuka who was desperately taking in lungful of air.

"I was about to suffocate. Naruto," Hitsuka told the pouting child. "Your welcome is a bit too warmly." He smiled at Naruto whom returned it with a grin.

"Welcome home, Hitsuka."

Right now, dear readers, you can go "Aww… that's so cute!" Unfortunately, this fluffy scene was interrupted by…

"I've found you three brats! Now it's time to DIE!"

… The angry Hyuuga.

Five heads (Hitsuka, Naruto, Neji, Hinata, and Kakashi) turned to face the forgotten man. "What the…" Kakashi muttered with widened eyes. Hitsuka looked approvingly at the trio.

"Looks like you have made quite a reputation while I was away." Naruto beamed while the Hyuuga kids blushed lightly. "Why are you still here?"

"What?" three confused voices asked at the same time.

"If you don't run now, I'll say that you might die a painful death," Hitsuka said lightly with a grin. Horror replaced shock as the pranksters turned and ran away.

"GET BACK HERE!" the Hyuuga cried out, racing after his targets and leaving a trail of flying dust and debris. Both Hitsuka and Kakashi chuckled, even though they were grey with dust, as they resumed walking to report to the Hokage.

_That afternoon, in front of the Hyuuga mansion_

'I wonder if Naruto is still alive.' Hitsuka thought. He was very serious when he asked himself this question. 'All well, he won't die that easily.' With that thought, he walked into the mansion, swapping greetings with the guards at the gate.

His feet took him through the now familiar maze of the mansion. With his mind still pondering on the outcome of a Hyuuga and three kids, he didn't notice two shadows behind him until one of them spoke. "Hitsuka, you're back."

Hitsuka first jumped in surprise then whirled around with his heart pounding. "Hyuuga-sama, Hyuuga-san! Please, don't do that!" Hitsuka nearly yelled, one hand over his still fast beating heart. "I could've died from a heart attack!"

Both Hyuuga looked confused for a second before Hiashi apologized for both of them, "Sorry, we thought that you sensed us."

"Well, I didn't."

"But you could sense Jiraiya-sama and Kakashi!" Hizashi said with surprise. Then another thought struck him. "And I've heard from Hokage-sama that he couldn't sense you the first time he met you! That's incredible!"

"That is amazing for someone as young as you are to pull it off," Hiashi agreed with his brother, nodding his head. While they were talking, they had arrived in one of the more cozy living rooms in the huge house. The three males sat down around the low table and tea was sent for.

"Well, I guess there is something that's like a switch inside me," Hitsuka said, bringing them back to the 'sense' topic. He started to explain when two pairs of eyes focused on him, "When I concentrate very hard, I can sense people like Jiraiya-sama, although I can yet to sense Hokage-sama. But when I am thinking about something or that I am distracted, this 'sensing ability' is turned off."

"What about that thing how Hokage-sama couldn't sense you?" Hiashi asked, eager to know more about his young friend.

"I'm not quite sure how I pulled that off. Probably because of that 'Game of Pranks'."

"'Game of Pranks'?" The Hyuuga men just couldn't understand how a game had got to do with this subject.

"You didn't think that all the pranks are just for the sake of fun and a laugh, did you?" Hitsuka asked, looking at the men. Both men were giving him a look that roared duhhh-what-do-you-think?-that's-such-a-stupid-question-I-mean-what-else-were-pranks-for? Hitsuka couldn't help but sweat-dropped. "Well…" he started slowly. "I'll take my smoke bombs for an example. Those bombs can be used in battles as well. While the enemies are confused, I can knock them out one by one."

The Hyuuga men went, "Ahh"

"Also," Hitsuka continued, "Remember that day when Naruto and I decorated the Hokage monument ("More like trashing it," Hizashi muttered quietly.)? We were practicing our chakra control."

"So what you are saying is that with every prank that you did, you were actually either training or experimenting," Hiashi summarised.

"Yup!"

"But what does the word 'game' got anything to do with your pranks?" Hizashi asked confusedly.

"I used to play this game with my brother where we-"

"Wait, you have a brother?" Hiashi cut Hitsuka off with a question.

"Huh? I didn't tell you?" Hitsuka looked at the men, a bit surprised. "Yes, I do, I mean, I did have a brother. He died about six years ago," he said, not at all uneasy talking about his brother's death.

"We are sorry for your loss," Hiashi said quietly for him and his brother.

Hitsuka smile and reassured them, "Don't worry, it happened a long time ago." 'Beside my brother is actually living inside my head right now,' he thought absently. "Anyways, back to what I was talking before. Where was I… Oh yes. My brother and I used to play this game when our parents were still alive. We would split up and tried to attack each other with the things we invented. So in order to not get prank, I had learnt to walk quietly and sense my brother, who was very good at this game."

Hitsuka had a fond look on his face when he thought of the past. "There was that time my brother surprised me with his special 'Holy Water', he called it. There was nothing holy about it. I had to go to school with blue hair and green skin for the next three days."

Hiashi and Hizashi couldn't help but chuckled lightly at that. "So why are you here?" Hiashi suddenly asked.

"I am here to pick up Naruto. Is he… still alive?" Hitsuka asked uncertainly, a bit worry.

"He's still alive. Why would he be dead?" Hizashi asked. He wasn't there in the Hyuuga household when the prank happened.

"The Evil Prankster Trio had another target this morning," Hiashi explained and upon hearing Evil Prankster Trio, Hizashi instantly understood. Hitsuka was a bit confused.

"What happened during the time that I was absent?" he asked.

"Those three…" Hiashi murmured, shaking his head from side to side, leaving his younger brother to explain it.

"Well, you see," Hizashi explained. "Since you left, Hinata-sama, Neji and Naruto spent a lot of time together. For a few days, nothing happened, but then, strange things started to occur."

"Like what?"

"Like the pipes in one of the toilets exploded, all the eggs were replaced with live chicken, creating a chaos in the kitchen."

"Remember that time when they painted a smiley face on the every shop's door?" Hiashi butted in.

"Yeah, that did bring a smile on everyone's face," Hizashi grinned. "I believe they also managed to dress up your ex-teacher, Umino Iruka I think was his name, so he resembled a yellow featherless chicken with a pineapple head. He couldn't get out of the costume because the zip was jammed and he chased those three down the street with flaming red face!" Hitsuka laughed, a bit regretful that he wasn't there to see the comedy.

"So after awhile, they gained the name Leaf's Evil Prankster Trio," Hiashi concluded.

"All of this in three weeks?" Hitsuka wondered, a bit surprised. "Wait a sec, so everyone knows that they are the pranksters? And nothing is done about that?"

"Those pranks were no trouble and they were funny," Hiashi said. "Everybody likes them."

"The Hyuuga from this morning didn't look too happy," Hitsuka said.

"He is one of the most serious people in this village. So with his hair like that, well…" Hiashi smiled lightly.

"Can you hear something?" Hitsuka suddenly asked, head tilted to the side, listening for something.

"Yeah…"

What they heard was, "DIE! DIE! DIE!" It was getting louder and they also heard pounding feet on wooden floor. The noise went past the room they were in and gradually faded away. Sweat-drops on everyone's head.

"I think that was them," Hitsuka stated. He didn't need to specify who 'them' were.

_Later at night, in Hitsuka and Naruto's apartment_

"Hitsuka! Tell me what happened on your trip! Tell me, tell me!" Naruto yelled, jumping up and down on the large bed. "Tell me!"

"Okay, okay! Stop jumping or you'll break the bed," Hitsuka said, holding up his hands in mock surrender. He sat down on the bed next to a now stilled Naruto, and began telling the child all about his trip. "I made a new friend. His name is Gaara…"

_The next day_

Hitsuka woke up at eight o'clock in the morning. He stretched and sighed in content when he heard the multiple pops from his spine. "Ah That feels good." He looked at Naruto who was still sleeping. 'Can't blame him. We only fell asleep at around two o'clock this morning,' Hitsuka thought. "I should go back to sleep again."

But before he could lay his head down, a thin string of red chakra rose from Naruto's sleeping body. 'Heh? This looks familiar-' Hitsuka thought before he was out cold.

**Wake up, kit. **A rumbling deep voice woke Hitsuka up. He sat up to find himself in a familiar dark corridor.

"Huh? Why am I here?" Hitsuka wondered out loud.

**Come, I want to see you. **Kyuubi said from his place behind bars.

"Heh is it possible to change how this place looks?" Hitsuka called out, walking down the dark passage. "It's really gloomy here."

**Yup, I can change it. **

Suddenly, light flooded the place and after Hitsuka got the white spots out of his eyes, he noticed he was standing in a well-lit hallway with white walls. "What the hell?"

**The dark and gloomy corridor is only for the scary effect, **Kyuubi said, laughing lightly at the not-really-funny-thing. Hitsuka couldn't do anything but sweat-dropped.

"That was so not funny," Hitsuka said, now standing in front of the cage and was looking at Kyuubi. "You look different…"

Indeed Kyuubi looked different. The fox ears, tails, snout and everything else that belongs to a fox were still the same but he was bigger. About the size of a large dog. He was beautiful…

Kyuubi looked delighted when Hitsuka said that. **I know. Now I am your father I want to look more like a father instead of a toy, **Kyuubi said, turning to show himself off. **What do you think?**

"I think you look fabulous, father…" Hitsuka said, the last word a bit foreign on his tongue. It had been years since he used that word.

**Come here.**

Following the command, Hitsuka walked into the cage. The moment he was in it, Kyuubi pounced on him, knocking him off his feet. "Wha-"

**You seemed to have grown bigger since I last saw you, **Kyuubi said, giving his kit a good lick.

"Father, it had only been three weeks!" Hitsuka said, giggling as Kyuubi continued to lick. "I can't grow that fast in three weeks!"

**I still think you have grown, **Kyuubi growled lightly, jumping off Hitsuka.

Hitsuka sat up and looked around the room. "Where's Naruto?" he asked when he couldn't see the said child.

**He's asleep so he won't be here unless he wants to, **Kyuubi explained.

"Right, so what jutsu have you been teaching him?" Hitsuka asked another question, interested in knowing what spectacular jutsu the thousands-year-old fox had taught his younger brother.

**None.**

Hitsuka face-planted. "Bu-But I thought you sai-said you wi-will…" he stuttered slightly.

**What do you see, **Kyuubi asked, holding up his front paws. **What do you see?**

A bit confused by the question, Hitsuka answered, "I see your paws."

**And…**

"And…"

Kyuubi sighed, wondering what made him thought this kit was smart. **Kit, I don't have long and thin fingers like you do, so I can't do hand seals, **he explained.

"I see…" Hitsuka murmured. He couldn't believe he was so stupid!

**But I do know a few jutsu, even though I can't do them with these hands… paws of mine.**

"How do you even know jutsu? You don't need them," Hitsuka asked, an anime question mark appeared above his head.

**I picked up quite a few of them when I was visiting human villages in my human form, **Kyuubi replied, scratching the tip of his snout with his paw. **I can show you those jutsu with my memory since I have no idea what those hand seals are and probably some taijutsu as well.**

"Thank you Father," Hitsuka said with a smile, looking forward to learning more jutsu. "Wait a sec, did you say in your 'human form'?"

At this question, Kyuubi looked a bit embarrassed. **Well, when I was young **(that will be several thousands years ago) **I used to go and play pranks on humans. I would… transform into human with no face to scare people or into beautiful young woman to seduce young man to rob their purses. It was all for fun! It's in my nature as a fox, **Kyuubi exclaimed when he saw Hitsuka lifted an eyebrow.

"How… childish," Hitsuka said after a few seconds of silence.

**And look who's talking, **Kyuubi muttered in response and Hitsuka laughed.

"I am going out now, I have to make breakfast," Hitsuka said. With a nod, Kyuubi watched as Hitsuka faded from his sight.

_Three years later_

Three years past in a blur. Almost everyday, Hitsuka and Naruto trained either by themselves or with the Hyuuga kids. They grew stronger and stronger and their weights increased slowly from six kilograms to fifty kilograms. Not a lot in a professional's eyes but they were young and their bodies needed to grow.

Their knowledge also improved as well, with Hitsuka a few steps before Naruto since he had the advantage of having an older mind. They learnt more jutsu with help from their father, Iruka-sensei, the Hyuuga and books from the library. Hitsuka, with his chakra reserve and his intelligent (?) mind, he knew quite a few of chuunin level jutsu. As for his job as an anbu, it wasn't really that dangerous and exciting. The occasional missions that were given to him were usually spying on some important but not dangerous people. His ability to hide his presence had gotten better and better because of this. The peaceful time of Konoha didn't need an anbu like him.

Even though he had the chakra reserve that could rival a jounin, most of the jutsu Naruto knew were genin level since he still lacked a bit in the theory department, but he knew some chuunin level jutsu. Armed with more than genin level knowledge, Naruto still joined the Ninja Academy at the age of six. He wanted to meet children around his age and held the hope of becoming friends with some.

The night before the Ninja academy entrance ceremony, Naruto was filled with excitement and dread, making it hard for him to fall asleep on his soft bed. 'What if they hate me? What if I'm too stupid? What it I make a fool of myself? What it…?' Naruto thought, the 'what ifs' swirling around in his mind.

"Naruto, you really should be sleeping," a voice said, startling Naruto. It was Hitsuka, leaning against the doorframe of the study room.

"But I can't!" Naruto whined, scrunching his face up. "What if they hate me? What if they chase me out of the Academy? What-" The blond boy was silenced by a finger on his lips.

"Shh…" Hitsuka shushed and pulled Naruto into his laps. Rocking the boy gently, he said, "Don't worry, everything will be fine. No one is going to kick you out. I'll be there to watch so you'll be fine."

"But what if I'm too stupid?" Naruto whispered, clutching onto Hitsuka's pyjamas.

"No you are not. Heck, you can even try to become a chuunin with that mind of yours," Hitsuka said with a chuckle. "Now, go to sleep."

"Play me a song," Naruto murmured, starting to fall asleep. Hitsuka did what he was asked and pulled out his wooden flute. A soft melody began and slowly drifted out of the small apartment. In no time, Naruto was off to dreamland.

_The entrance ceremony_

"Everyone, congratulation on entering. From this day forth, please work hard to follow the shinobi way," the Hokage said to the crowd of the hopeful children and their proud parents. Everyone was respectfully quiet while their leader talked. Now the speech was over, parents, children and teachers all started to chat with each other.

"Iruka-nii-san!" Naruto yelled happily, jumping onto the man

"Iruka-sensei," Hitsuka said, walking slowly up to the pair and bowed slightly, showing respect to his ex-teacher.

"Hitsuka, you don't need to call me sensei anymore. I'm not your teacher," Iruka said with a small smile. He shifted Naruto so his weight was more balanced.

"Iruka-sensei, you'll always be my teacher no matter what," Hitsuka replied with one of his own smile. He then told the blond in his teacher's arms, "Naruto! He's your sensei now so you'll have to call him Iruka-sensei too."

"Sensei?"

"Yes, Iruka-sensei."

"Okay… Iruka-sensei it is," Naruto said with a firm nod.

"Naruto! Hitsuka!" The said boys turned towards the voice and saw Neji waving at them with Hinata beside him.

"Neji-nii-san! Hinata-chan!" With a hop, Naruto was out of Iruka's arms and made a beeline to the Hyuuga children.

With an apologizing nod at the man, Hitsuka followed the yellow ball of energy. "How are you, Hinata-chan," he asked when he was close enough to the timid girl.

"I a-am fine, Hitsuka-kun," Hinata replied. Looking up at the slightly taller boy with a smile. "I-I wonder if Naruto-kun is going t-to be alright?" She said that because Neji was giving the boy a noogie attack.

With a laugh, Hitsuka asked Neji to stop, "Neji-nii-san, please stop torturing my dear brother." With a grin, Neji released Naruto who softly touched the abused parts of his head. Everyone laughed lightly.

The Hyuuga adults, Hiashi, Hizashi and Iyo, who was holding onto baby Hanabi, smiled when they saw the children were having fun. Iyo's smile grew wide when she heard the suffixes Hitsuka used. She still remembered the day Neji, Naruto and Hinata had tried to force the white-haired boy to change.

_Flash Back - one year ago_

It was a sunny day and Naruto and Hitsuka decided to pay a visit at the Hyuuga household. Before Naruto could properly walk past the main gate, two blurs grabbed him and whirled him away, leaving Hitsuka blinking in confusion. "What the?"

Feeling a bit neglected, he went looking for Iyo to help her in making their lunch. "Iyo-san."

"Hitsuka-kun?" Iyo said, slightly surprised at seeing the boy in the kitchen. "What are you doing here?"

"Neji-san and Hinata-san took Naruto away and left me behind," Hitsuka said in a slight whining voice, something that Iyo never heard before.

"Ah… I see. You can help me make lunch then," Iyo said with a smile, knowing very well how good the boy could cook.

"Right, what are we having for lunch today?"

"Let's see… we can have some rice and fried chicken. Can you wash the rice?"

"No problem."

While he was just drying his hand after he finished his task, Naruto raced into the room, yelling, "Hitsuka!" He was followed by Neji and Hinata.

Hitsuka sighed and wondered, 'What now?' He turned around and saw the look on the three children's faces. The look of predators who found their prey. "Err… What's up?" he said nervously, backing away from them.

"Oh nothing, nothing," Neji replied with a rather scary smile. He walked forward, following Hitsuka.

"Yeah nothing at all!" Naruto chirped. They were cornering Hitsuka into a corner.

"We just wa-want to ask you for something," Hinata said with a stutter but determination was in her eyes.

"What will that be? Hinata-san," Hitsuka asked, looking left and right for an opening. None, he was cornered unless he did some jutsu to help him out.

Before he started to do the necessary hand seals, what Neji said stopped him, "We want you to change the suffixes."

"The what?" a question mark appeared above Hitsuka's head. He was looking very confused.

"The suffixes," Neji repeated.

"No mo-more Neji-san and Hinata-san," said Hinata, looking into Hitsuka's eyes.

"But Neji-nii-san and Hinata-chan," Naruto piped in.

"Well?" Neji demanded for an answer.

Hitsuka looked bewildered for a few seconds. 'The hell?' he thought. Decided to escape, he did the hand seals.

"No you don-" Naruto shouted, trying to interfere the process but was too late.

A yell of "Kawarimi!" accompanied by a poof of smoke, Hitsuka was replaced by a rock that was from the large garden in the Hyuuga household.

"Dammit!" Naruto and Neji yelled at the same time while Hinata sighed.

Wiping her hands, Iyo smiled at the kids. "Since you are here, you can help me make lunch!" she said in a no-argue-and-complain-from-you voice. This time, all three kids sighed. Mission: failed.

'What the hell was that?' Hitsuka thought as he walked through the garden. 'I've been calling them Neji-san and Hinata-san almost three years and they never complain! So why so suddenly… and Naruto is in this as well. What should I do… no it's more like what should I say.'

He wandered around until he made a plan and decided to go lunch. "Ah Hitsuka-kun, right on time," Iyo said when she saw the gold eyed boy.

"I won't miss your cooking for the world," Hitsuka replied with a grin. He then saw the three kids. They were avoiding his eyes because they felt embarrassed by what happened before.

"Hmm… Something smells very good," Hiashi said when he walked through the door.

"I agree," Hizashi said following his brother.

"Thanks. Hitsuka-kun, Naruto-kun, Neji-kun and Hinata-chan helped me," Iyo said with a smile at the said kids.

Silence was in the dining room when everyone started eating. Occasionally the adults would talk about minor things as they wondered why the kids were so quiet, especially Naruto. Unable to get any answers out from the kids other than the quiet "Yes," or "No," they decided to give up and just eat.

At the end of the lunch, Hitsuka stood up and started to gather up the dishes. "Naruto, can you please help me in cleaning up," he asked. Naruto jumped up and tried to hold onto as plates as he could.

"Careful, you don't want to drop any plates," Iyo said, standing up to help. She was worried for the safety of the young children.

"Iyo-san, please sit down. You should relax a bit," Hitsuka said while looking at her. "Don't worry; I am sure Neji-nii-san and Hinata-chan are willing to help too." He walked out of the door before anyone could register what he just said.

'Neji-nii-san? Hinata-chan?' was the thought that ran through everyone's mind. Then a cheer from Naruto broke the silence.

"Neji-nii-san, Hinata-chan, did you just hear what Hitsuka call you?" Naruto cried, jumping up and down.

With a laugh, Neji and Hinata joined the small celebration while the male adults were looking at Iyo for an explanation. "Well it was like this-"

"What's taking you guys so long!" a voice yelled from the kitchen's direction. The children immediately stopped and went to take plates to give to Hitsuka.

_Flash Back Ends_

On the other side of the school ground, two Uchiha were talking to one of the teacher. "…There wasn't much need for my care…" the teacher said to the older Uchiha, Uchiha Kouji, who was the leader of the Uchiha clan.

"Isn't that flattery a bit too much?" Kouji said. He was well aware of his older son's abilities and potentials, but he wasn't so sure about his younger son's. Behind his back, the younger son of Kouji, Uchiha Sasuke looked at the ground gloomily.

"No, no… You should expect this from them, shouldn't you!" the teacher said with a big grin.

Looking down at his son, Kouji said, "Become a fine shinobi like your brother."

"…Okay."

"Please look at this board," an old man, probably a teacher, yelled so everyone could hear and pointed at the board beside him. "And you'll be able to find your classroom and teacher. Go there as soon a possible to start your first day of school."

With excited chattering, children crowded up to the board to look at which classroom they were in and which teacher would be teaching them. Naruto didn't need to look because he and Hitsuka already knew, for no teacher other than Iruka wanted to teach the container of the so called demon.

But looking at the large crowd, children pushing, pulling and even punching to just look at the board, Hitsuka and Naruto couldn't help but be thankful at the advantage. "I am glad I am not there," Naruto whispered to Hitsuka who nodded in agreement.

"I'll see you to your classroom and then I'll be leaving," Hitsuka told Naruto and started walking to Iruka's classroom, waving goodbye at the others.

With a yell of goodbye, Neji ran off to his own class. Hinata waited with her parents for her turn to look at the board. She was a little disappointed because she knew that girls wouldn't be in the same class with the boys. Girls would be learning different things once they had past the basics. 'Ah well, I still can see him,' she thought quietly to herself.

_Iruka's classroom_

Iruka and Naruto were scratching their heads at the riddle that Hitsuka just asked. The riddle was, "What can instantly turn water into ice?"

"An ice/water jutsu?" Iruka asked. Hitsuka shook his head in negative.

"I give up!" Naruto cried out with a frown. "What is it?"

"Two dots," Hitsuka answered and watched as understanding appeared on Iruka's face but not on Naruto's.

"What?"

Going to his lecture mode, Iruka picked up a chalk and wrote on the blackboard. "Look, this is the kanji for water and if you add two dots on the top and bottom left corners you get the kanji for ice!"

"I get it!" Naruto yelled and demanded for another riddle. "Another one! Another one! I'll get it this time!"

"OK, OK, let me see… Right, a truck carrying pumpkins, eggplants and tomatoes. It encounters a sharp curve, what drops?"

"Definitely a pumpkin!" Naruto yelled.

"No."

"Since tomatoes are probably lighter that eggplants, I'll say it's a tomato that drops."

"No."

"An Eggplant!" Guess who yelled.

"No."

"Pumpkin! Tomato! Eggplant!" Frustrated, Naruto yelled everything out.

"No, no and no."

"What is it then?" a very confused Iruka asked.

"The speed of the truck." Two shocked faces looked at Hitsuka and then they all laughed.

"That's so stupid!" Naruto said, wiping a teardrop from the corner of his eye. "To think that I-"

"Go and sit down now Naruto, class will be starting soon," Iruka cut Naruto off, knowing that he would take a long time boasting on how great he was and etc.

With a pout, Naruto said a quick goodbye and ran off to find a seat. Naruto sat down in the seat that used to belong to Hitsuka three years ago and looked around, hoping that someone would sit next to him.

Looking around as well, Hitsuka discovered that almost all the would-be rookie nine were here (except the girls). 'I see Shikamaru and Chouji sitting together, they must be friends already. I can see Kiba as well but where's Akamaru? No wait, Akamaru hasn't born yet so of course he's not here. Shino is over there in the corner. I need to go soon but someone is missing…' Hitsuka thought, waving a last goodbye at Naruto. 'He's all by himself,' he thought sadly and sighed. There was nothing that he could do about this.

He reached out to open the door but it slid open before he could touch the handle and he accidentally bumped into someone. "I'm sorry," he quickly said. His eyes widened in recognition.

In front of Hitsuka was Uchiha Sasuke himself. Mumbling a quick sorry, Sasuke looked around for a place to seat. There were two choices, 1: beside a gloomy looking boy wearing dark sunglasses and had dark shadows behind him in the corner, or, 2: beside a blond boy with sky-blue eyes who had this lonely look on his face. Hmm… tough choice, not.

He sat down gracefully next to a surprised Naruto. 'He's sitting next to me?' Naruto thought, staring at the black-haired boy.

"What's your name?"

"Huh?"

With a sigh, Sasuke wondered if he had made the wrong choice. "I said, what's your name?"

"Oh right." Naruto blushed in slight embarrassment and answered, "Naruto. My name is Uzumaki Naruto."

"Uchiha Sasuke. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Sasuke." And this was the start of a beautiful friendship.

_Outside of the classroom_

Hitsuka giggled in delight which earned him some looks from others. 'Oh yeah! Oh yeah! Naruto has a new friend! It's Sasuke as well! I hope everything will work out for them,' he thought, practically skipping out of the school.

'Now what should I do?' Now he was calmer, Hitsuka wasn't sure what he should do. 'This must be what my parents felt when I went to school,' he thought, walking aimlessly around. 'I'll just go and practice my taijutsu and kunai throwing then.'

_The end of school_

"Hitsuka!" Naruto yelled, running towards the said boy, pulling Sasuke behind him. "Look! I made a new friend!"

Hitsuka gave an apologising smile at Sasuke for Naruto's behaviour as Naruto introduced them. "Hitsuka, this is Sasuke. Sasuke, this is Hitsuka."

"Please to meet you, Sasuke-san," Hitsuka said, sticking his hand out.

"Sasuke is fine," Sasuke replied, shaking Hitsuka's hand.

"Let's go and train together!" Naruto yelled, looking at Hitsuka for permission. Although they were the same age (to Naruto), Hitsuka was like his brother and his guardian so most of the time he listened to him.

"Sure, that is, if you want to come," Hitsuka asked Sasuke.

"Why not?"

"Let's go then!"

Sasuke was a bit surprised after they trained for awhile. He honestly didn't think that the clown-like boy that sat next to him in class was that good. Same with that white-haired boy, Hitsuka. 'I'll have to train harder so I can be better than them and aniki,' he thought with determination and pushed himself even harder.

Naruto decided that he would not be out-did by his new friend and started to push himself as well. Hiding a smile, Hitsuka continued his kunai throwing practice, getting bull's-eyes every time.

_Uchiha mansion_

Sasuke was quite happy at what happened today. He had found two new friends and rivals although he was a bit puzzled to why Hitsuka wasn't going to go to the academy. Shrugging, he walked to his room. He went past a room and heard his father talking to his brother, Uchiha Itachi. "As expected from my child… entering the anbu squad, I knew I could trust you with my heart," Kouji said with a rather evil laugh. Sasuke frowned slightly.

_Weekend_

Training, training and training were the only things on Sasuke's to-do list on his day off from the academy. He was training again with Naruto and Hitsuka, pushing themselves to their limits. Cuts and scratches were all over their body but those were the least of their worries.

After a few hours of intense training, Sasuke and Hitsuka dropped in exhaustion. Even Naruto, who was well-known for his inhuman stamina, couldn't help but sat down in a panting mass. "We should go home and get ourselves fixed up," Hitsuka suggested and two heads nodded in agreement.

"Let's go to my house, its closer," Sasuke said, lifting himself up with his hands.

"Really? I've never been to your house before," Naruto exclaimed, instantly jumped up in his excitement. "What are we waiting for then? Let's go!" The other two boys merely chuckled and wondered where the blond child's energy came from.

_Uchiha mansion_

"Ouch! That hurts!" Sasuke and Naruto both cried out at the same time the hot water washed over their injuries. They had washed themselves thoroughly and were now in the pool of hot water to relax themselves. Sliding into the water as well, Hitsuka gave a hiss of pain. Gradually the stinging pain faded, leaving behind a lovely warmness.

Just then, a question popped into Sasuke's head. "Hitsuka?"

"Hmm?"

"You are the same age as me and Naruto, right?"

"Yeah," Hitsuka murmured, wanting to fall asleep right there.

"Then why aren't you in the academy?" At this question, Naruto tensed a bit. He knew the answer to that question and no one other than him and Hitsuka should know. They just couldn't tell everyone that Hitsuka was the secret weapon of Konoha and that he was already an anbu since he was three!

"Because… I have my priorities," Hitsuka replied and left it at that.

When they all started to become light-headed, they got out and dressed. Sasuke in his usual dark blue, wide-collared shirt, which had the Uchiha emblem on the back, and shorts. Naruto in his orange shirt with a red spiral on the back and shorts. And Hitsuka, the odd one of the three, in his black kimono that only reached above his knees and tied together with a grey obi.

Talking random things as they walked to find a first-aid kit for their injuries, they came to the topic of how Hitsuka dressed. "Why do you always wear that?" Sasuke asked.

"I can ask you the same thing," Hitsuka replied, looking at Sasuke's standard Uchiha clothes.

"But you wear things that are more modern when I first saw you," Naruto pointed out.

"That was different. I didn't pick those clothes."

"So why not anything more modern?" Sasuke asked.

"Because I like kimono, okay?" Hitsuka silently cheered when he saw someone coming towards with a box that was obviously a first-aid kit.

"Mother!" Sasuke smiled, running up to his mother.

Uchiha Kana was a kind looking lady with a warm smile, which she gave one to her youngest son right now. "Geez, you should rest your body properly at least on you day off from the academy," she scolded him. She looked up and saw two boys. One she instantly recognised and the other one… she wasn't sure. "Who are your friends?"

"Mum, this is Uzumaki Naruto and this is Yuki Hitsuka. Naruto, Hitsuka, this is my mum," Sasuke introduced happily.

Naruto and Hitsuka bowed at the same time while saying, "Nice to meet you."

Kana's heart melted at the sight. She didn't hate the Kyuubi kid but she didn't really want to have any contact either. But now, this Naruto was probably Sasuke's first friend and she couldn't just push him away. "My name is Uchiha Kana, nice to meet you too."

Now with all of them sitting down, Kana started to dress their wounds. She started with Naruto whom gladly accepted the attention. Kyuubi had deliberately held back the healing process so that Naruto could get a little mother-love. "You don't have to push yourselves so hard," she chid the three boys.

"Brother… he only needed one year to graduate from the academy," Sasuke gloomily said and winced in pain as the disinfectant was applied onto his cheek by Hitsuka.

Moving onto Hitsuka, Kana said, "Times have changed since then. Besides, that boy is special."

As expected from my child.

Sasuke wanted his father to say that to him. His mother just wouldn't understand that if he was the same as his brother, father would look at him and say that! He looked down, face grim.

"Ne, ne, Sasuke, let's go and play!" Naruto said, pulling the said boy's hand. Kana and Hitsuka both smiled.

A grin split on Sasuke's face as he let himself being pulled up. "Let's go to my room!"

Before he could follow the others, Hitsuka sensed someone watching them. He looked at the presence and caught a glimpse of a person around the corner. It was Itachi. He gave a smile with a nod to the dark-haired boy. He soon lost sight of him as he entered Sasuke's room.

_The next day_

'I wonder what Hokage-sama wants me for.' Hitsuka thought as he walked into the Konoha Head Quarter. "Good morning, Sarasa-san," Hitsuka greeted the clerk behind the counter.

"Good morning, Hitsuka-kun. Hokage-sama is expecting you," the woman said with a smile.

"Thank you." Hitsuka then started to climb those awful flights of stairs. 'They need a lift, dammit!'

Once he was outside the Third's office, he took a few seconds to rest a bit. Nodding at the two anbu that stood on both sides of the door, he knocked. "Come in." A reply came through, muffled by the wall. Hitsuka walked in.

"Hitsuka, right on time as usual," Hokage said, puffing on his pipe.

"Good morning, Hokage-sama," Hitsuka said with a bow.

"Please sit down."

"How can I help you?" Hitsuka asked once he was seated. He noticed that there was someone else in the room. An anbu with a weasel mask. 'Three guesses to who that is,' he thought sarcastically, knowing very well who that was if not by the look, then it was by the chakra signature.

"Gaara of the Sand had asked if you want to go and visit him for a week," Hokage said, looking at Hitsuka.

"Gaara? Of course I want to go!" Hitsuka exclaimed, all excited by the idea. "When do I leave?"

"You are leaving tomorrow. This anbu, Uchiha Itachi, will escort you there." At his name, Itachi took his mask off.

'Itachi and Sasuke really look alike,' Hitsuka mused. Then a question popped into his head. "Why an anbu?"

"Hmm… we are a bit sort on jounin right now," Hokage said, looking slightly embarrassed. "Unfortunately, you'll have to walk there because at this time of year, no merchants are going there. I am sorry about this."

"Don't worry about it. The walk will be good for me," Hitsuka said with a smile. "I guess Naruto still can't come with me since he has started the academy. I'll have to ask if Hyuuga-sama or Hyuuga-san will take him."

"That's all sorted. I'll see you later then," Hokage said with a smile of his own. Throughout this conversation, not once did Itachi spoke.

'That's kind of creepy,' Hitsuka thought, walking out of the HQ and towards the Hyuuga mansion.

"Hitsuka!"

Upon hearing his name, Hitsuka turned to see Hiashi, the very person he was looking for. "Good morning, Hyuuga-sama."

"Good morning to you too," Hiashi said, now walking beside the white-haired boy. "I saw you walking out of HQ, another mission?"

Hitsuka shook his head. "No Hyuuga-sama, I was invited to go to Sunanokuni to visit Gaara. So… can Naruto go and stay at your place for one or two weeks?"

"Yeah sure. That'll be fine," Hiashi said.

"Thank you so much!"

"I think someone is following us," Hiashi whispered from the corner of his mouth.

"I know but its okay," Hitsuka said with a grin. He knew it was Itachi but he wasn't sure why he was following him. 'Ah well, it's probably nothing.' He mentally shrugged.

_The next day_

"Leaving so early?" Naruto said while yawning. He was walking Hitsuka to the gate before going to the academy.

"Yeah," Hitsuka reply, eager to see Gaara again after so many years. "Now Naruto, be polite, don't get into unnecessary troubles, brush your teeth, don't eat too much, don't-"

"Okay, Okay!" Naruto interrupted. "Geez, you sound like a mother hen."

Hitsuka blushed at this and bopped Naruto on the head. "Shuddup."

Clutching his head in pain, Naruto noticed something. "Hitsuka! You aren't wearing any weights! Not fair," he whined.

"I have to walk for three days almost non-stop so I don't want to carry too much weight. Besides, those weights are nothing to me now, I need to get new ones," Hitsuka replied and laughed when Naruto poked his tongue out at him. "It's almost time for academy to start. Run along now and I'll see you in two or three weeks."

Giving Hitsuka a hug, Naruto ran off yelling goodbyes. 'Man, he is noisy,' Hitsuka thought. He then noticed the figure by the gate. It was Itachi wearing his normal Uchiha attire. 'Strange, no anbu uniform. Probably didn't want to attract too much attention since he has to walk beside me,' he reasoned with himself. "Itachi-san."

"Hitsuka," Itachi said with a nod as a reply. "Should we leave now?"

"Yeah, let's go."

They were on the road to Sunanokuni and Hitsuka was happy because his body was unusually light. Taking fifty kilogram off from your body could have that kind of effect.

While he was happy and all that, he fell to notice that Itachi was observing him. 'He makes no sound when he walks and if I'm not looking straight at him, I'll definitely think that no one is there,' Itachi thought, amazed at the level of stealth Hitsuka had. 'And he achieved this level at such a young age!'

'On the manga, it said that it takes three days to get to Sunanokuni. But last time it took us five days. Why is that… I see. Three days are for ninja running to there but it takes approximately five days for walking,' Hitsuka realized. 'But I wanna get there in three days!' He had to mentally debate whether to run or not before coming to a decision. "Itachi-san."

"What is it?" Itachi asked, a bit surprised at the sound after so many hours walking in silence.

"Well… umm… I want to get to Sunanokuni as fast as possible and I know I can't run as fast as you and probably get tired easily but can we run a bit so we can be there faster?" Hitsuka asked, all in one breath.

"Sure, why not," Itachi replied. Secretly, he was kind of bored of this slow walking pace.

With a grin, Hitsuka shifted his backpack on his back before he started running. Without the usual extra weight of fifty kilogram, he was running abnormally fast for someone as young/short as him. It wasn't really that fast in Itachi's eyes but he was a professional and he was impressed. 'Hmm… not bad.'

By the time the sky started to turn dark, they were already one third of the way there. 'Two more days and I'll be in Sunanokuni!' Hitsuka silently cheered as he gathered some firewood for the fire which Itachi would give with his fire jutsu. With a yawn, Hitsuka crawled into his sleeping bag after dinner and bid Itachi good night. He was tired; after all, he did ran for nearly half of the day. 'I need to get fitter,' he thought sleepily.

After setting up some traps, Itachi jumped up onto a tree branch which gave a clear view of the clearing they were in. He had to guard the boy. It was his job.

It was on the third day when they ran into some troubles. A group of bandits decided to rob them. Not a good idea. "Yo! You over there, hand over your money if you don't wanna die," a bandit yelled, pulling out a wicked looking sword, a shinken.

'Are they samurai?' Hitsuka thought, looking at the once-beautiful-but-now-ugly-because-of-bad-maintenance sword. 'Yet again, looking at the state the shinken is in, I doubt they are really good.'

"Please stand back, Hitsuka," Itachi said, pushing the boy back a bit.

"Okay. I'll just get in your way anyway."

"Come on! It's your life or the money!" another bandit yelled out, getting a bit impatient.

'There are only five of them. This won't too much of a trouble,' Itachi thought. "Leave before you get hurt," he gave a warning.

The bandits only laughed. "You dare to stand up against us? Let me tell you something boy, we've killed more people than you could possibly imagine. Now, if you don't wanna die and let the girl suffer, you hand over the money," the bandit drawled. He thought Hitsuka was a girl and the said 'girl' was pissed off.

'I do NOT look like a freaking GIRL!'

With a sigh, Itachi vanished from the bandits' sight. "What! Where did he-" Before that exclaim could be finished, the bandit, along with one of his partners, fell forward, unconscious.

"Shit! Form a ring, boys, form a goddamn ring!" the leader yelled out and they scrambled to form a ring.

"It won't matter anyway." This was what they heard before two kunai lodged into one of the bandit's hands.

"AHH! My hands, my hands!" the bandit yelled out, dropping his shinken and broke the ring. "AHH-" Itachi had punched him into dreamland.

"Fuck," the leader said but before he could yell out more commands to his last man, Itachi brought the blunt end of a kunai on his head. The last man whimpered but didn't get anywhere because he shared the same fate as his boss.

Finished, Itachi stood up and looked around. Suddenly, he felt another faint presence, behind Hitsuka. He whipped around to find another bandit standing right behind Hitsuka with his shinken raised. 'Damn, this guy had some training and I was too careless,' Itachi thought, running to rescue Hitsuka.

Hitsuka was still pissed off by the girl comment and he found the perfect opportunity to let out some steam. With speed and accuracy, he rammed his elbow into the stomach of his was-going-to-be-his-attacker and brought his right hand down at the same time to chop at the bandit's right hand, causing him to drop the shinken.

The bandit doubled over in pain and surprise. This was a wrong move for he was now approximately the same height as Hitsuka. The white-haired boy smirked as he grabbed onto the bandit's head and brought it down while bringing his right knee up.

'Ouch,' Itachi thought as the bandit's forehead connected with the knee. Another man sent off to dreamland on the Dreamland Express. toot toot

"Should we go now?" Hitsuka said, straightening himself up. He wasn't even sweating or breathing hard.

"Let's go."

_In Sunanokuni_

"Hitsuka!" Gaara yelled as he ran up to the white-haired boy and gave him a hug.

"Gaara!" Finally, after so many years they met again.

"Hitsuka, welcome."

"Yashamaru-san, it's great to see you again," Hitsuka said to the man in front of him. "How have you been, Gaara."

"Everything is great. I am in the Ninja Academy now and I have Yashamaru, nii-san, nee-san and now I have you!" Gaara replied, smiling all time which Hitsuka returned.

"Hitsuka, I'll pick you up in a week's time," Itachi said. His mission had half finished, now he could go home.

"What's the point?" Yashamaru said. "By the time you get back to Konoha, you'll have to leave again won't you?"

"What are you implying?"

"Why don't you stay with us for a week? You've got the pass so it's no problem," Yashamaru replied.

"If you don't mind… Then thank you very much for your offer. I hope I'm not too much trouble," Itachi said with a slight bow.

"None at all, none at all," Yashamaru said with a smile.

The week past too fast for both Hitsuka and Gaara. Kazekage had given Gaara a week off from the academy so he could spend more time with the white-haired child. They played, either by themselves or with Gaara's siblings. They spent almost every hour together.

Itachi had watched all of these. He was intrigued by Hitsuka. 'Gaara of the Sand… the Sand's weapon. From reports and rumours, I thought Gaara was supposed to be unstable and dangerous and from the looks that the villagers are giving him, they were probably right. This just makes that boy more interesting. He was able to be Gaara's best friend despite all the danger. Hmm…'

Gaara had shown Hitsuka his development in his taijutsu and the Hitsuka was amazed. Gaara's skill wasn't bad at all and the white-haired boy was happy for him.

Hitsuka was sad when he found out that although three years had past, no one in Sunanokuni had become Gaara's friend. No one. 'I'm just glad that he is happy with just Yashamaru and his siblings,' he thought to himself with a sad smile. 'Maybe he and Naruto can make friends. That'll be nice.'

He had met Kankurou and Temari again. They were nice to him and he discovered that they had started to use the weapon they used in manga. Kankurou was training to become the puppet user and had received his first official attacking puppet, Karasu. Hitsuka had learnt the basics of the Puppet Jutsu from a very proud, with his nose in the air, Kankurou.

As for Temari, she found fans were great for using wind jutsus so she had an enormous fan specially made for her. She had developed the strength to lift the fan up for it was made in solid metal but she still had problems in using the weapon to its full capacity.

It was the last day and Hitsuka hugged the teary-eyed Gaara goodbye. "I'll see you soon," he whispered and the red-haired boy nodded in agreement.

"Bye."

The trip back to Konoha was peaceful.

_A few months later_

In these few months, Sasuke and Naruto, with a great start, had aced their way through their classes. Being the close friends and rivals they were, they continued to push themselves to their limits. What had surprised Sasuke was that his brother had started to give more time in training not just him but Naruto and Hitsuka as well. He didn't know what had prompted his brother to do that but he was glad.

They also hang out quite a lot together as well. Soon, Neji and Hinata came into the group as well. The combination was a bit strange but everything worked out in the end.

A semester had past and today, Iruka dropped a nuclear bomb. "Well then, I'll give you back your report cards for the first semester."

"EEEHHH?" Such exclaim rang out loud and clear in the classroom. Chouji was stuffing his face thinking that he couldn't have done too badly. If it wasn't too bothersome, Shikamaru would thump his head on the table but it required energy and unnecessary movements. Kiba groaned and feared for the worst. And Shino… he was being a Shino.

Sasuke's face lit up with happiness as he looked through his report card. "What did you get?" He looked up upon hearing his friend's voice.

"Not telling," Sasuke said, poking out his tongue. "I want to show my dad first."

"Well, I want to show Hitsuka first too!" Naruto huffed and poked out his tongue as well. Looking at each other, they laughed at their immatureness.

"You ARE coming tomorrow, aren't you," Naruto asked with his voice lowered.

"Of course. I won't miss it for the world," Sasuke whispered back.

"Good, this'll be great!"

_Uchiha mansion_

Kouji looked through his son's report card, his emotionless face betrayed nothing. It said that his youngest son was the number one student both in class and school in all the subjects (taijutsu, ninjutsu, senjutsu (strategy), individual and team).

Sasuke was looking at his father with hopeful eyes. 'Maybe today… maybe I'll get it today!'

Suddenly, Kouji looked up and straight into his son's eyes. "Keep this up and become a fine shinobi like your brother," he said and Sasuke froze. With that said, the leader of the Uchiha clan stood up and walked out of the room, leaving behind his son.

'Dad… I…' Sasuke thought, head down. 'I wanted you to say, as expected from my child.'

That night, Sasuke was woken up by the sound of a loud voice. "What! You should know well what kind of day tomorrow is right?" It was Kouji's voice. "You don't understand where your position is…" Kouji said a bit more quietly but still angry.

'What are they doing so late at night with the lights off?' Sasuke thought, quietly eased open the paper door, eavesdropping.

"Tomorrow I have a mission to do," Itachi said in a monotone voice.

"What mission?" Kouji demanded.

"Well, I can't say… It's an absolutely secret mission." While Kouji was looking annoyed, Kana was looking worryingly at both her husband and son.

Kouji finally spoke after a bit of silence, "Itachi… You're the backbone that connects this family to the village… You have to be a useful connection." His eyes slowly started to turn red, emphasising the glare. "You understand that… right?"

"Yeah…" Itachi answered almost half-heartedly.

With a bit more thinking, Kouji decided to let this go this time. "Impress them well and then come to tomorrow's meeting."

Not giving a reply to his father, Itachi looked to where his brother would be. "Sasuke, go to the bathroom and quickly go to sleep."

Kouji and Kana both looked extremely shocked. Although Kana wasn't a kunoichi, she still had some training before so she could sense people up to a certain degree. But she didn't sensed Sasuke's presence, neither did Kouji.

"O-Okay," Sasuke said with a bit of stutter, opening the door wider.

Hiding his surprise, Kouji scolded, "Loitering around this late at night. Hurry up and sleep!"

"Okay…" Sasuke said again, looking down. When he looked back up, his eyes connected with his brother's. 'Brother… You're not coming tomorrow?'

_The next day_

"… So Neji-nii-san, you'll be the decoy and the rest of us will get the 'stage' ready." A black head nodded. "Get back here on the set time with the target, by then we'll all be in places. Everyone understand?" A lot of heads nodded. "Then let the play begins!"

"Sorry, I'm late."

"Aniki! I thought you aren't coming! What about your mission?" Sasuke asked the new arrival.

"I had to have an excuse to come here," Itachi replied, putting down the bags he was holding onto. "Someone will cover for me in my squad, besides; father will never let me come instead of the meeting."

"True," Sasuke said with a grin then he ran off to do his part.

"Hitsuka, do you want to go to the library?" Neji asked. Personally, he didn't like the library. It was too dark and gloomy, big too. But Naruto said that the gold-eyed boy liked, no, loved the library to bits.

"Sure, why not," Hitsuka replied, walking ahead of Neji to hide his facial expression. A goofy smile and shining eyes, not exactly what one could call good looking.

"Hitsuka-kun, how are you today?" the librarian asked when she saw the boy. She had never seen a boy this young loved library this much.

"I'm fine, Momiji-san. Such a beautiful day today, isn't it?" Hitsuka said with a brilliant smile which Momiji returned. He then walked to the jutsu section and started looking for a good book to read. Neji sighed and went to find a book as well. Out of all the people, he was the only one that fitted the description of: approximately the same age (that excluded Hiashi, Hizashi, Iyo, Hanabi, the Third, Iruka, Kakashi and Itachi) liked reading (excluding Naruto and Sasuke) and not shy (Hinata).

'Why me…' Neji thought, hoping for two o'clock to come faster.

One hour… two hours… three hours… four hours… Finally five hours had pass and Neji almost begged Hitsuka to go home, anything to get him out of that evil building. Hitsuka stood up and went to get a few books out. Neji didn't even want to talk about the amount of books Hitsuka got out.

With practiced ease, Hitsuka made his way to his house with his pile of books that obscured his vision. Neji was shocked at the skill Hitsuka was showing. "Neji-nii-san, what are you waiting for?" Hitsuka yelled, causing Neji to jump then ran after him.

Walking up to his apartment door, Hitsuka juggled with his books to fit his key into the door. As soon he walked into the dark room and put down the books, a chorus of, "SURPRISE!" rang out along with the light being switched on.

The living room was decorated with colourful balloons and ribbons. A large and beautiful cake was in the centre of the table with all sorts of delicious food around it 'Probably made by Iruka-sensei and Iyo-san,' Hitsuka thought. A pile of presents was beside the table.

He was surprised. He knew about the 'secret party' because Naruto was bad at hiding things (plans for the party, list of people, etc.) but he didn't know that they would do so much for him. "Thank you. Thank you all for this," he said with a smile from his heart. Most people looked a bit embarrassed, but everyone smile back, including Itachi (he can smile you know, before the whole let's-kill-my-clan-so-I-can-measure-my-capacity).

"I'm just returning the favour from three years ago," Naruto said, walking up to Hitsuka.

"But isn't this a bit too much?" Hitsuka asked, looking around.

"This is also for last year and the year before," Neji said, coming up from behind him. "You didn't tell us when your birthday is until this year."

"But we just had your birthday party yesterday, Neji-nii-san." Hitsuka was referring to the party that was for Neji's birthday which was on the third of July.

"Yeah, it was a surprise when we discovered that your birthday is the day after Neji's," Hizashi said.

"Anyway, you seemed to know everyone's birthday, so this is only a return of the favour." Iruka said and he was right. Hitsuka had gave a present to people that were close to him on their birthdays (he had to send the gifts over to the Sand sibling), even Jiraiya.

"Happy birthday to you," Naruto started singing and soon everyone joined in. They partied until the adults decided to leave, with Iyo carrying a sleeping Hanabi. The youngsters were allowed to stay for the night. Though there was an age difference, Itachi stayed too.

Hitsuka was on cloud nine. He hadn't had a birthday party for himself since his brother died nine years ago. 'Such a long time ago,' he thought as he watched Naruto and Sasuke tried to out-sing each other on the karaoke machine that Kakashi brought. They went quiet when the landlord came banging on the door, yelling. But he too went quiet when Itachi opened the door with a cold look.

One by one, the kids fell asleep anywhere that was comfortable. Soon, the only one's that were left awake were Itachi and Hitsuka. "They are a handful, aren't they," Itachi said, smiling slightly at the other boy.

"Yeah," Hitsuka replied, bending down to lift Naruto up. "Can you help me? This bed should be big enough to fit four of them."

"Sure."

After awhile, Naruto, Hinata, Sasuke and Neji were sound asleep on the only bed of the apartment. Itachi watched Hitsuka from his place by the table as the white-haired boy tugged the kids in. A soft smile was on Hitsuka's face. 'He looks like a mother,' Itachi thought.

"Would you like some coffee?" Hitsuka asked and Itachi nodded. Soon, he w handed Itachi a cup of coffee, having one himself as well.

"You're the first six-year-old drinking coffee that I've ever seen," Itachi said quietly for the kids were sleeping in the same room. He sipped his coffee and sighed in content.

Hitsuka laughed lightly. "I think it tastes good," he said. Looking at the state the apartment was in, Hitsuka couldn't help but groaned, "Might as well get started now, since with all the excitement I can't get to sleep."

Itachi laughed at this. "I'll help you."

"Thanks, I need it."

While cleaning, Hitsuka noticed something. "Itachi-nii-san?" Itachi had requested that Hitsuka called him that quite a while ago like Naruto did.

"Hmm?"

"What are you thinking so hard about?"

Itachi looked a bit startled. "What do you mean?" he asked slowly.

"Itachi-nii-san, when you are worrying or thinking hard about something, you tend to blink more than usual," Hitsuka said then he looked worried. "What is it?"

Surprised at how close Hitsuka was in studying people, Itachi sighed. 'Might as well tell him, it won't hurt,' he thought then chuckled. "You really are like a mother hen." Hitsuka blushed and Itachi chuckled again. "Let's sit down, it might take awhile."

Shrugging, Hitsuka sat down on a chair and brought his feet up so his could rest his chin on his knees. Itachi sat down on the couch that was facing Hitsuka. "Well?"

"What can you tell me about the Uchiha clan?" Itachi asked after a bit of thinking for a way to start.

Hitsuka blinked at the question. He started slowly, "Well… Uchiha clan is said to be the strongest and the finest clan in Konoha. They possess the Sharingan, a bloodline limit that gives the user the ability to copy jutsu, see through all kinds of jutsu immediately and see opponents' next movement. It's a really powerful bloodline limit. And if I remember correctly, it was your ancestor who started the Konoha's Police Force."

"You're right," Itachi agreed.

"Well?" Hitsuka asked after a bit of silence.

Looking down at his hands, Itachi said, "I'm… worried about my clan. They seem to think so highly of themselves up to a point that they are being arrogant. Arrogant people are weak and can easily be defeated because they underestimate others. I guess the Police Force, the clan and the name Uchiha have limited everyone's capacities. They are blinded and brainwashed by those things. I don't care about anyone else but I'm worried about my little brother. He admires our father and I'm afraid my father will try to brainwash like he did to me."

Lifting his head up to look at Hitsuka, Itachi continued, "Through my action and speech, I tried to warn them. But they paid no heed and send Shisui, a man I considered as a brother, to keep an eye on me. I'm worried that Sasuke might grow up like those arrogant Uchiha."

Hitsuka understood Itachi's worry about his clan being weak because he knew that even this 11-year-old in front of him could kill the whole clan in one night. "Don't worry about Sasuke," Hitsuka said with a soft smile. "He looks up to you and hopes to surpass you to gain your father's acknowledgement."

"That's something else I'm worried about," Itachi said with a sigh.

Hitsuka didn't really know what to say. In his world, he didn't need to worry about such thing because he was just a normal teenager. Even though was seven years older than Itachi, sometimes he would think that Itachi was older than him!

'At least he's different,' Hitsuka thought. 'At least he's not trying to kill his clan anymore, I think.'

A week flew past and quite a few things happened. From Sasuke, Hitsuka learnt that two Uchiha had gone missing on the night of Hitsuka's birthday because they didn't go to the Uchiha meeting. They were Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Wakuta. Itachi was the suspect because he also wasn't at the meeting. Itachi didn't say anything about him being at a birthday party. Sasuke didn't say anything else but Hitsuka could guess something else happened and he was willing to bet that Itachi probably blew up at the other Uchiha.

From Itachi, he learnt that after that particular incident, Kouji had started to pay more attention to Sasuke who had succeeded in doing the fire jutsu, Goukakyuu no jutsu (Great Fireball) after intense training. "He even said 'Do not follow after your brother,' to Sasuke," said Itachi.

'Something is going to happen, I can feel it,' Hitsuka thought in frustration as he sat on the bed and watched Konoha from the window that was beside him. 'But what… and what can I do?'

With a tired sigh, he flopped back and stared at the ceiling. 'What's the connection? If everything is like it is in the manga, I'll just bundle Itachi up and put him into a padded room or something. But he has changed way too much so he's not like the Itachi in the manga! And what's up with the two Uchiha went missing instead of one dead!'

-Maybe one of the missing Uchiha killed the other Uchiha to get Mangekyou Sharingan.-

Hitsuka was so surprised by the sudden voice in his head that he fell off from the bed. 'Shi-chan?'

-One and only.-

'Geez, don't scare me like that! I nearly had a heart-attack,' Hitsuka mentally grumbled as he climbed back onto his bed.

-Sorry.- Hitsuka could hear a snicker behind the apology. -Anyway, did you hear my theory?-

'Yeah I did, it was a pretty good one too,' Hitsuka praised his brother.

-And if that Uchiha is anything like the Itachi in the manga…-

'To measure the height of his capacity…'

-Then Uchiha clan is in danger,- Shion concluded.

'Shit.'

-I agree.-

* * *

I'm not sure about the quality of this chapter and I have no idea how to continue from there, at least now you know that Itachi is not evil. I am not quite sure I got Itachi's personality right though. It's a bit hard to get into his character with that entire kill-the-clan thing. I hope you enjoyed it.

PLEASE REVIEW! YOU SHOULD DO IT! I AM HOLDING THE NEXT CHAPTER AS A HOSTAGE! IF YOU DON'T REVIEW, IT'S GOING INTO THE BIN ON THE DESKTOP!


	15. Chapter 15

I'm very sorry for this very late update but I DO have some excuses. (1) I had my end of year school exams just after I put up chapter 14. (2) After the exam I had y orchestra practice for prize giving. (3) A day after the prize giving, I was on a plane going back to my mother land. (4) The computer at home sucks and should be in an antique shop so my parents decided to get me a laptop. So with the computer gone and the laptop coming, I had quite a few days of no access to a computer to type my fic.

Disclaim: I do not own Naruto although I do love to own it. However, I do own Yuki Hitsuka and everything about him.

_AU: I've heard from somewhere that I'm not allowed to answer every review that I received but I will answer any question that you have. _

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

**Kyuubi talking**

-Shion talking-

* * *

Chapter fifteen

"Have you got used to 'it' yet?" the figure on the chair hissed to the kneeling man in front of him. The shadows in the room made it difficult to see the figure's face.

"Yes sir," the kneeling man said. On closer inspection, one could see the Uchiha embalm on the back of the figure's black T-shirt. It was Uchiha Shisui. "Thank you so much for giving me this power."

"So… are you ready?"

"As ready as I can ever be."

"Then do whatever you can to prove yourself worthy," the figure hissed out the command. "I'll wait for the good news."

"Yes... Orochimaru-sama."

_Outside of the Konoha HQ_

An Uchiha smirked and said to his companions, "Let's just ignore the old fool. I mean, telling us to be cautious and hide our families because a dangerous man is on the loose. Who'll believe him?"

The 'old fool' was in fact their village leader, Hokage-sama himself. Just awhile before, he held an important meeting and told everyone from the rank chuunin and onwards his worries, asking them to be careful. Most people took the warning seriously out of their respect for their leader, but some merely sneered and stayed silent. Unfortunately, Uchiha Kouji was one of the later group.

Being at the meeting as well, Itachi was worried for his little brother and asked Hitsuka to let Sasuke sleepover at his apartment for a few days. Unknown to him, Hitsuka was at the meeting as well but just hidden. After all, he was the one that gave this piece of information to the Third. The boy agreed immediately

Unable to move his mother without his father suspecting anything, Itachi could only try to stay by his mother as often as possible and protect her no matter what.

'It's gonna be full moon tomorrow,' Hitsuka thought, looking up at the moon from his place on the bed next to the window. Naruto and Sasuke were sound asleep beside him. 'Seems to me, everything happens on full moon nights.' He was referring to Yashamaru getting killed and Itachi killing his clan in the manga. He lied back and sighed. "At least I've warned the Third and told him to use taijutsu specialists," he murmured before drifting off to sleep himself.

_The next day_

"Well you two please stop singing on the freakin' karaoke machine," Hitsuka grounded out between his teeth after he pulled the machine's plug out. He was well-known for his patience which formed from years of looking after a kid who would trip over his own feet on flat ground. coughNarutocough

It wasn't that Naruto and Sasuke were bad singers. In fact, they were quite good. It was just that after listening to them singing on the top of their voices for six hours straight was enough for Hitsuka's poor eardrums. The two boys grinned and Hitsuka had to suppress the urge of throwing the karaoke machine at them. 'I swear I'll die from looking after them,' the white haired boy thought, massaging his temples with his fingers.

"Pillow fight!" Naruto suddenly yelled, chucking the said item towards Hitsuka's face. Years of training helped him caught the 'lethal' weapon. Sasuke laughed and joined the fun.

_An hour later_

Decided that he had enough of dodging pillows, Hitsuka gathered as much of the fluffy things and bombarded the other two boys which caused them to squeal then laugh in delight. "You should both go to bed now," he said, wiping his forehead. "It's getting late."

"Aw come on, Hitsuka. I don't wanna-" Naruto whined but had to stop because of a yawn that threatened to unhinge his jaw. "-sleep," he finished unconvincingly.

"No. Sleep. Now."

Both Naruto and Sasuke muttered a few things under their breathes but moved towards the bed never less. Hitsuka hid a smile behind the pillow he was holding on to. With Stage 1 complete, which was getting the boys into bed, he now wondered whether he should continue with Stage 2 or not.

'Should I go to the Uchiha mansion tonight,' he thought, absently putting everything back to their rightful places. 'It's not like they can't protect themselves. They are one of the strongest clans in Konoha.' he tried to reassure himself with that thought.

-Keyword 'tried',- Shion piped up from his place inside Hitsuka's mind.

'Shut up, onii-chan, you aren't helping.'

-Never!- Shion cried and blew a mental raspberry.

'And you're suppose to be the mature one,' Hitsuka teased and flung himself into a couch. 'So... what do you think?'

-I think you should go. Not a lot of Uchiha actually believed the Third,- the older of the two replied after a small pause. -You should go and help.-

'Hello? Just in case you have forgotten, I'll kindly remind you something. This is a life and death situation. I can't just go in there and say, "Oh, Shisui-san! Such a lovely night to die, eh? Can you please do me a favour, yes? Thank you! See that hole there? Can you jump in there and drop dead because that's gonna be your grave. I'll make sure you'll a nice gravestone on the top. You'll do that? Geez, you're so kind. Thanks again!"' Hitsuka thought sarcastically, using his little kiddie's voice.

-That'll be nice.-

'Can you for once please be serious?'

-I was,- Shion replied, all serious. -I really think you should go and have a look.-

'And why's that?'

-I have a feeling that there is more to this whole Uchiha thing.-

'You and your feelings, they are always right,' Hitsuka mentally grumbled and got up to prepare for the unexpected. 'I hate you.'

-And I love you too.-

'I think you have gone bonkers.'

-Just get on with it,- Shion said in annoyance.

_The Uchiha mansion_

Hitsuka arrived to the sound of fighting. 'What's going on?' he thought in confusion. He expected the mansion to be in chaos but he didn't think that Hokage-sama himself, along with a few anbu, would be here as well!

Looking ahead, he could see Uchiha Shisui stood there with his back facing a building and corpses littering around him. Shisui looked confident and had the famous Uchiha smirk on his lips. 'How can he still look so confident when he is surrounded by the Third, anbu and the Uchiha themselves? It's true he killed quite a lot of people but still…'

"Uchiha Shisui, give up now and you may receive lighter sentence but if you continue to resist, I am afraid we will have to use force," Hokage said calmly, looking at the half mad man in front of him. "Stop while you can."

Shisui spat at the ground between him and his ex-leader. "Shut up, you crazy old man. You can't beat me," he said with a sneer. "Now even with your little army."

"Why you little," Jiraiya yelled. He couldn't believe that this little piece of censor was being so rude to his old sensei. He was about to go forward to beat the crap out this man when the Third held out his hand to stop him.

"Calm down, Jiraiya. I've heard worst insults than this petty one," the leader of the village said, chuckling slightly to himself.

"I agree. This guy has absolutely no creative part in his brain," Hitsuka said, popping up between Jiraiya and the Third.

"What are you doing here!" Jiraiya nearly screeched for he was surprised by the boy.

Hitsuka mentally said, 'And to satisfy my brother's desire to watch the show.'

-Oooh must get my popcorn ready!-

'Asshole.'

-Love you too.-

"Why are you doing this?" Itachi asked with no emotion but deep inside, he felt betrayal and pain. He had truly looked up to this man and respected him a lot. So why?

"To prove that I'm worthy to my master," Shisui proudly replied.

Hitsuka frowned slightly upon hearing these words. 'His master…?'

"Just for that you're going to kill the whole clan?" an angry Uchiha yelled, his face red with anger. "Just for that you've harmed our clan leader!" With that, he charged like an angry bull.

Surprised, Hitsuka looked around and spotted the familiar outfit of Uchiha Kouji. The man was lying there with a ring of shinobi around him, readied to protect the man. With closer inspection, Hitsuka could only see a head wound but not seriously enough to cause a tough man like Kouji to go unconscious.

Curious, he walked towards the Kouji, not noticing the Third making a signal so that the ring of men would let the boy through. Squatting down, he looked closely. 'Hmm... This head wound isn't too bad, maybe if I…' With his chakra, he gently scanned the man's head. When he found no other problem, he raised his right hand. Blue chakra turned green before he put his hand softly on the wound.

'Healing chakra?' The Third blinked in surprise. 'When did he learn that?' In no time, the wound was gone, leaving a faint scar which would disappear over a small period of time. During these few minutes, Shisui had chalked up another mark on his mental 'Number of killed Uchiha' board. It wasn't like no body wanted to help the poor Uchiha; it was just that they didn't have enough time.

"I'm afraid you have left me with no choice," the Third said with a weary sigh. At those words, both anbu and Uchiha prepared themselves for the signal. The signal was given and the fight began.

So confident with his skill, Shisui met the small army head-on, not caring whether he was cutting down Uchiha or not. But, he wasn't the only one that was good in Konoha. Soon he was being pushed back, finding himself more defending for his life than attacking.

"You're outnumbered!" the Hokage shouted over the noise. "Don't be a fool! Give up now!"

Covered in blood, most were from others but some were his, Shisui laughed. "I'll never give up. Besides, I'm stronger than all of you put together." After he said that, a few things happened in a small amount of time. First thing was that he activated his Mangekyou Sharingan to the surprise of all the presented Uchiha.

"So it was you who killed Uchiha Wakuta," one of the Uchiha that came to talk to Itachi a few days ago said in disbelief.

"Yeah! Thanks to him I got these eyes," Shisui said proudly. "And I also have this." Immediately, strange black marking started to appear on his body.

Hitsuka's eyes widened in recognition. 'Th-That's the Curse Seal!' A split-second after that, his body started to tremble. He collapsed onto his knees, hugging himself. He couldn't breathe properly, eyes wide in shock and fear. 'Evil... so much... If Orochimaru's minion is already this evil, I can't even bring myself to think what he is like.'

-Snap out of it!- Shion yelled and Hitsuka was brought back to reality with a snap.

'At least he is only on Curse Seal Level 1,' Hitsuka thought. 'Things will definitely get ugly if he's on Level 2.' After he made sure he wasn't in anyone's way and safe in the ring of bodyguards, he watched everything that's happening around him. He summarised, 'Uchiha Shisui, don't know his rank but probably a jounin. Strong but…'

Shisui was thrown into a building by a kick from a green figure. It was Maito Gai... in his green spandex and orange leg warmers. 'No wonder Hitsuka told me to use taijutsu specialists since they can just look at Shisui's hands and feet to fight. This way, it will be hard for them to fall victim to Mangekyou Sharingan,' the Third thought, careful not to look straight into the traitor's eyes.

With a frustrated growl, Shisui pushed himself up and charged at Gai. Bad move. Even with the Curse Seal boosting his strength and speed, he was still no matched for the 'Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha'.

'Gai, he is very powerful but my eyes hurt when I look at him,' Hitsuka thought and shuddered. 'Hmm? Two chakra are coming closer. Both of them are familiar... Naruto and Sasuke!' Whirling around, he discovered that he was right. Both Naruto and Sasuke stood there, shocked by the scene in front of them.

"Shisui-san? Why?" Sasuke asked quietly in disbelief.

'So many people are hurt…' Naruto thought while staring at the broken body of an Uchiha in front of him. '…Or dead.'

"What are you two doing here?" Hitsuka hissed, appearing in front of the two startled boys. "You shouldn't be here!"

Surprised, both boys nearly stuttered to get their answer out. "I forgot my... umm…" Sasuke paused with a blush.

"His toy," Naruto continued helpfully, ignoring the glare from the young Uchiha. "He needs it to go to sleep."

Hitsuka nearly slapped his forehead and groaned. 'I should have known what was missing this afternoon! Sasuke's toy cat!' he thought wearily. "Obviously you can't get it now," he said sarcastically, after refraining himself from saying anything biting. "Go home. NOW!"

"Okay, okay. Don't need to be-"

"Father!" Sasuke cried out, spotting his father's prone body on the ground and ran towards it. Recognising their leader's youngest son, the ring of bodyguards moved to let the boy past. This time, Hitsuka did groan.

"His fine," Hitsuka said with a sigh. He and Naruto were now in the circle with the two Uchiha. "You really should leave now."

"No! I have to be with my father!"

Hitsuka patient disappeared. "Don't you understand! You are not strong enough to be here yet!" he snapped harshly. Sasuke looked down and, to his shame, tear gathered in the corner of his eyes. Naruto widened his eyes in surprise at Hitsuka's tone.

Taking a big breath, Hitsuka sighed. He awkwardly wrapped his arms around the dark-haired boy and apologised, "I'm sorry, Sasuke, but what I said is true. You shouldn't be here. In fact, none of us kids should be here. We'll just get into other people's way. Forgive me?"

Giving the worried boy a shaky smile, Sasuke nodded. "Let's go then," he said. He stood up, after giving his father one last look. The three kids walked towards the gates, trying to make themselves unnoticeable. Unfortunately, only Hitsuka had mastered the skill in completely hiding his presence. Shisui noticed them.

The distinctive black hair and eyes, not to mention the Uchiha embalm on the back of the T-shirt, instantly pointed Sasuke out as an Uchiha in flashing neo light around a large sign that said, "Uchiha here!"

With a feral smirk, Shisui dodged a weak attack from an Uchiha and disappeared. He appeared behind Sasuke whom him grabbed and held a kunai up to the boy's neck. "I suggest you not move an inch," he drawled and everyone stopped in their track. Although several weapons were still pointing in his direction, unmoving.

Grinning, Shisui said, "You see, I wanna have a little fun tonight but you guys just had to show up and ruin it. Now, you can watch me have my fun." Quick as lighting, he dragged his kunai down Sasuke's right arm, then back to his neck. Sasuke clinched his jaw, determined not to cry or make any sound. Beside him, Naruto growled and Hitsuka dug his nails into his palms, drawing blood.

"Isn't this delightful?" Shisui laughed and licked Sasuke's cheek. Sasuke flinched but couldn't do anything for the fear of beheading himself. "Aren't you having fun?" the mad man cooed.

"Let him go," the Hokage said in a warning tone.

"Make me!" Shisui replied childishly and drew a circle on Sasuke's pale arm with his kunai.

'This man has officially gone mad,' Hitsuka thought, trying to kill the man with his eyes. 'Damn, it's not working!'

-You're not that guy in X-Men who can shoot laser beam with his eyes,- Shion said.

'Shut up.' To Hitsuka's surprise, his brother did shut up. He mentally sighed. 'What can we do to save Sasuke?'

"Shisui-san, let my brother go," Itachi said, stepping forward. He held his palms out and all his weapons were on the ground. He looked, and was, vulnerable.

"Ne, ne, Sasuke-chan, your brother is coming to save you!" Shisui said happily. "No Itachi, I'm quite fond of Sasuke-chan right now." Another cut.

Hitsuka could see the barely controlled anger burning in Itachi's eyes. They were powerless. Even Gai, the fastest person there could not move without Shisui catching the movement with his Sharingan. 'What can I do? I can use that thing but it's risky. If it doesn't work fast enough, Sasuke may…'

-Don't think too much. Trust your invention. It worked fast enough on me,- Shion reassured Hitsuka. You can do it.

'Okay.' Hitsuka slipped his right hand slowly into the wide sleeve and opened one of the many hidden pockets. He got what he wanted and gave a small nod when he saw Itachi looking at him. Slowly taking a big breath and held it, he squeezed his hand which instantly broke the small green glass sphere in his hand. Several shards of glass dug into his hand but he ignored the pain.

The glass sphere was actually one of Hitsuka's special smoke bomb which probably should be classified as a gas bomb. That particular sphere held paralyzing gas and was colourless. Depending on the wind movement, the gas could sometimes affect people ten meters away from the original spot. Since Shisui was standing right next to Hitsuka, therefore…

Grinning for he thought this was a checkmate and the winner was him, Shisui laughed. Decided that he should make a pattern on the boy's body, he moved his kunai. Or he tried to. "The f#&?" Around him, people were experiencing the same problem.

"You really shouldn't have cut Sasuke," a quiet voice said but everyone heard it for it was silent in the area.

Shisui focused his eyes on the white-haired boy in front of him. "Why aren't you affected? What did you do?"

Hitsuka calmly stepped forward and removed the bloody kunai from the crazy man's grasp. "I was the one that released the poison; I should know when to hold on to my breath and when to release it," he said while pulling Sasuke from Shisui's disgusting embrace. Naruto came forward to help, the poison already flushed out from his system by Kyuubi. He pulled Sasuke away, holding him protectively.

"You little censor bitch. Give me the antidote now and I'll make your death painless," Shisui snarled.

'Why do they always think I am a FREAKIN' GIRL? Damn it,' a frustrated Hitsuka thought. "Heh, and here I thought you're your master's bitch," he said, shocking a few people by the language he used.

"Language, Hitsuka," the Third said seriously but Hitsuka could hear the hidden mirth. Grinning, Hitsuka apologised causing a few people to snicker.

'How dare they ignore me! How dare they laugh at me!' Shisui silently fumed. Anger drew forward a new boost of evil chakra from the Curse Seal, washing the poison away much like what Kyuubi did for Naruto. A few weaker blood vessels burst under the pressure of the burning chakra. Determined to kill the person that brought him all his humiliation and pain, he lunged forward with his shinken drawn. He aimed at the white-haired boy's back that was facing him.

Sensing the man, Hitsuka turned quickly but before he could finish the turn, the man was already upon him. "Die!" he snarled, bring his deadly Japanese sword down. Eyes wide, Hitsuka couldn't do anything and everything slowed down for that split-second.

Suddenly, Shisui stopped moving. No, Hitsuka didn't go into his mind or anything. For a few seconds Shisui stood there with his shinken raised and no one moved (partly because of the paralysing gas). Slowly the black marking on his body retracted back to its origin, leaving his skin clean again. Then with a disgusting slurp, his head slid straight off his neck.

Stunned, Hitsuka quickly jumped back as the now headless body fell forward, revealing Itachi who stood there with his katana drawn, Shisui's blood was dripping off it. "You killed him?" an Uchiha, probably a chuunin, said in disbelief.

"It was necessarily," Itachi replied emotionlessly. He felt a small itch from his eyes but didn't think too much on it.

"Good job, Itachi," the Hokage said, walking up towards the teenager (he was able to move because he wasn't in the gas range). He then proceeded to give out orders, "Those who are injured need to go to hospital to get some treatments. Move the deceased ones to an available area to prevent anymore damages to the bodies; they shall have a formal funeral tomorrow."

"Yes, sir," the group chorused.

"Do not tell anyone about what happened here tonight. Keep this incident between ourselves and inside the Uchiha gates. Do you understand." It was more of a command then a question.

"Yes, sir."

"Umm... Hokage-sama?" a random Uchiha hesitantly asked.

"Yes?"

"We can't move."

With a surprised and nervous laugh, Hitsuka pulled out another sphere, this time blue, and threw it on the ground. A few seconds later, everyone got their ability of movement back.

"Good. Now can someone carry both Uchiha Kouji's and Shisui's body to the HQ. Jiraiya, Itachi and Hitsuka please follow me there," the Third said, leaving no room for argument.

Hitsuka sighed in annoyance. 'This feels like deja vu,' he thought.

-Last time you were in a situation like this was when Hinata got kidnapped,- Shion said thoughtfully. -Wonder why he wants you this time.-

'Not an idea,' Hitsuka thought with a shrug, he then remembered something. "Hokage-sama, please wait!" he called out. The Third stopped and watched curiously as the boy ran towards the other two children.

Wincing slightly when he saw the cruel body art, Hitsuka carefully laid his green chakra surrounded hand on the wounds. Sasuke sighed when the pain disappeared, leaving a tingling sensation behind. Soon, his body was devoid of any cuts from that night and he smiled gratefully at his healer. "Thanks."

"No problem."

_Konoha HQ_

The Hokage, Jiraiya, Itachi and Hitsuka were in a small plain room with the unconscious Kouji on a bed and Shisui on a table that looked very much liked the autopsy ones the forensic doctors used to dissect the body.

"Hitsuka, do you know what those dark markings were?" the Hokage asked, waving his hand over Shisui's now mark-free body. Itachi looked a bit confused for he had no idea why his leader was asking a six years old or why the said child was even here!.

Ignoring the curious looks that he was getting from Itachi, Hitsuka nodded. "That's the Curse Seal... the same one that was given to Mitarashi Anko by Orochimaru."

"I thought so…" the Third said tiredly, rubbing his face with his hand. Jiraiya frowned at the name and Itachi was even more surprised that Hitsuka knew such things. "What do you know about this man, Orochimaru."

With a small frown, Hitsuka flicked a hesitant glance at Itachi before he started with a small sigh. The glance did not go unnoticed by the other three adults. "I know that he used to be one of the Legendary Three with Jiraiya and Tsunade. Mitarashi-san used to be his apprentice before he betrayed Konoha. He is trying to gain immortality and his ultimate goal is to learn and master every single jutsu in the world. He is currently in an organisation called Akatsuki."

"Akatsuki... That's the organisation that was in your last report. Isn't it, Jiraiya," the Third asked the hermit.

"Yes... What I have found out about this organisation is that it is made up of nine S-rank missing-nin from every village. What their objective is currently unknown," Jiraiya replied, finding himself a bit frustrated for not being able to come up with more information.

"Hokage-sama…"

"Yes, Itachi," the Hokage said, looking kindly at the young man. "What is it?"

"What has happened to my father?" Itachi asked with concern in his voice. He might not get on well with his father but he still loved the man. "Why is he still unconscious?"

"You should know more than we do, Itachi-nii-san," Hitsuka said softly. "After all, it was your family's bloodline limit that did this."

"You mean…"

"Yes, the Mangekyou Sharingan. I don't know what Uchiha-sama saw but the images must have put so much pressure on his mind that he has gone into a coma," Hitsuka analysed. "Unfortunately, currently no one in Konoha has the power to wake him now."

"What do you mean!" Itachi asked, shocked. He grabbed Hitsuka by the shoulder tightly and repeated, "What do you mean?"

"Itachi! Calm yourself," the Hokage said. The old man was a bit surprised to see the usually calm teenager to be like this.

"Itachi-nii-san…" Hitsuka placed his hands on Itachi's larger ones which were still on his shoulders. "There is only one person that I know can wake your father now... but she's not in Konoha."

"Who? Who can wake him?"

Hitsuka replied after a small pause, "Tsunade-sama."

Jiraiya looked startled upon hearing this name. "Tsunade-hime?"

"Tsunade-sama? The last Legendary Three?" Itachi asked quietly. Slowly, he released Hitsuka and apologised, "I'm sorry, Hitsuka. I didn't mean to…"

"Don't worry. Anyone under your circumstance would probably have the same reaction," Hitsuka said with a gentle smile.

Itachi gave a smile back then he frowned a bit. "How do you know so much? You're only six years old! These knowledge... especially the ones about Uchiha, you can't possibly find them in library."

Hitsuka gave an annoyed sigh and threw a half-hearted glare at the old man. "You... are impossible."

"Why is that?" the Third asked, his eyes shining with amusement.

"You and I know very well that Itachi-nii-san will ask and now I'll have to explain!" Hitsuka huffed, crossing his arms in front of him. He was close to lose in the battle of will: to throttle the old man or not to throttle the old man. He sighed for the nth time that day: not to throttle the old man. 'Damn.'

"Explain what?" Itachi asked and couldn't help but to feel a little suspicious.

"The whole thing?" instead of replying the question, Hitsuka asked the Third. "Everything?" The Third nodded. "Very well," he said gravely. Wishing that he didn't have to do this again, he began telling Itachi what would probably be the most important secret in Naruto's World.

_42 minutes and 38 seconds later, Konoha HQ_

"So you're saying that you're not from this world/dimension and you know a lot about us including some of our secrets," Itachi said slowly and Hitsuka nodded. "And you're currently an anbu too." A nod. "And you're currently 19 years old, 7 years older than me…" Another nod. "Oh man…"

"Umm... 'Oh man' what?" Hitsuka asked, looking at the now sitting teenager who had buried his face in his hands. Was that a blush he saw? Nah that would be impossible, must be the light.

"'Oh man' because I asked you to call me big brother when you have been the one that's older than me!" Itachi explained.

Hitsuka blinked. "That doesn't matter. You're way mature than I am anyway so I don't see any problem. Beside, my body is still only six years old," he said. "Also, you kind of remind me of my own aniki."

Itachi gave a little smile. "I finally understand why you're so smart and mature for your age."

Hitsuka blushed lightly and coughed slightly. "For obvious reasons, please do not tell anyone this information. I trust you to keep this to yourself," he said formally, looking at Itachi.

Knowing that how important this information, Itachi nodded solemnly, but at the same time he was glad that both Hokage-sama and Hitsuka trusted him enough to tell him this secret.

"So... What should we do now?" Jiraiya asked from his position by the wall. "Find Tsunade-hime? Investigate Akatsuki? Both of them are hard tasks."

"True…" the Third murmured, rubbing his chin.

"I have an idea, though it's kind if dangerous," Hitsuka said and three pairs of eyes focused on him. "Finding Tsunade-sama should be a bit easier, especially if Jiraiya-sama is leading the search party. As for Akatsuki…" he stopped.

"Please continue," the Third prompted.

Hitsuka looked a bit nervous and sad at the same time. "As for Akatsuki," he started again, "Hokage-sama could send Itachi-nii-san, as an undercover ninja, to join the organisation."

"What…?" both Itachi and Jiraiya said at the same time while the Third was thinking very hard on this suggestion.

"But Itachi will need a reason to become a missing-nin and he has to be strong enough for the organisation to instantly take him in," the Third said, pointing out the loopholes of the plan.

"That's where Uchiha Shisui comes in."

Three voices "Huh?"-ed at the same time.

"Itachi-nii-san can take Shisui-san's crime, that it was him who killed all these Uchiha tonight. After all, Hokage-sama has forbidden anyone to talk about it so no extra information will leak out," Hitsuka clarified.

"But, am I strong enough?" Itachi asked.

"Yes, you are strong enough, Itachi-nii-san. For in my world, you are the one that massacred your whole clan." 'Beside, in six years, even Orochimaru himself admit that you're stronger than him,' Hitsuka thought to himself.

"What?" Itachi instantly paled. "I am the murderer?"

"No, you are not. Not in this world," Hitsuka said firmly. "Do not let your mind go there. Itachi-nii-san, you are strong enough, especially when you have the Mangekyou Sharingan. Just like Shisui-san, except you're a lot stronger than he was."

Itachi frowned. "I have... Mangekyou Sharingan?"

"Shisui-san was someone you considered as a brother and a friend right? Killing someone who is your friend is the requirement for gaining Mangekyou Sharingan... right?"

"You even know that," Itachi said with a weak smile which Hitsuka returned. He now understood what that twitch of his eyes was.

"Uchiha Itachi," the Third suddenly said formally. "I am giving you an S-ranked mission: go undercover into the organisation Akatsuki and report back its activity without endangering yourself or the mission. I'm sorry for doing this to you," he finished softly.

"Yes sir! Don't worry, Hokage-sama, it's my duty as a shinobi of Konoha."

"You do know you'll have to take up the blame instead of Shisui and will have to leave tonight," Hitsuka said worryingly. "You'll not be able to see your family for a very long time!"

"I know," Itachi said sadly. "But I have to do this."

_Uchiha mansion_

"Aniki! Hitsuka! You're back," Sasuke cried, jumping to feet to greet the pair. "Where have you been?"

"At the HQ," Hitsuka replied. "Kana-san," he bowed slightly with his greeting.

"Ne! What does the old man want?" Naruto yelled, jumping up and down around the white-haired boy.

"Show some respect," Hitsuka chided and laughed lightly.

"Mother, Sasuke, I'm leaving for a mission tonight and I will not be able to come back for quite a while," Itachi said solemnly. His mother gasped.

"So soon! What about your father?"

Itachi replied, "Hokage-sama has already arranged someone to go and find the medic-nin that can bring father out of his coma."

Sasuke started shaking his head. "Don't go, aniki! Don't go!"

"I have to, Sasuke. This mission will affect the safety of our village," Itachi said gently, looking into his brother's eyes. "While I'm absent, protect our mother and father like a true Uchiha."

Rubbing his eyes, Sasuke nodded. "Count on me."

Stepping outside to let the family had their last night together, Hitsuka and Naruto sat down in front of the door. "So... Itachi-nii-san won't be back in a long time?" Naruto asked.

Hitsuka nodded. "Unfortunately, yes."

They didn't know how long they sat there in silence, but Naruto yelped in surprise when the door behind them suddenly slid open. Hitsuka, who had already sensed the three presences and wasn't surprised, stood up. "Are you ready?" he asked the teenager.

Wearing his anbu uniform with all his weapons on him, Itachi nodded in reply. Kana couldn't help but started crying softly. "I-I'm sorry," she choked out through her sobs.

"Don't worry mum, I'll write when I can," Itachi said softly, wrapping his arms around his mother.

Hitsuka reached up and took something off from his neck. "Here, this is for you." In his hand was a plain necklace which has a smooth and glassy black stone in a simple shape of an oval egg dangling on the end. Naruto gasped faintly when he saw it.

"What's this?" Itachi asked the boy, reaching out and took the necklace in his hand.

"It's a necklace that Hitsuka never takes off! Will, until just then," Naruto explained. "He had that on since the first time I saw him."

"Now you mentioned it, I remember seeing this thing when we were taking baths together," Sasuke murmured. "It must be very important."

"Yes, it is," Hitsuka said, a soft smile on his face. "My mother gave it to me on my last birthday together as a whole family. This is an obsidian rock which can give you protection and can absorb you anger, fear and stress."

"I can't have it. This gift is too precious," Itachi said and tried to give it back to Hitsuka.

Hitsuka refused it with a shake of his head. "I wish you to have it so you can have as much protection you can have while you're away." He then grinned. "Beside, you'll need it to absorb all that anger, fear and stress while you're amongst all that missing-nin."

"Thank you…" Itachi whispered, touched by this gesture. He understood the importance of this necklace for he knew Hitsuka's past. Slowly, he put the necklace on and tucked it underneath his anbu uniform.

"Also," Hitsuka said, breaking the silence. "Itachi-nii-san, please don't use Mangekyou Sharingan useless you absolutely need to."

"Why?" Itachi asked curiously, even Sasuke and Kana looked curious. After all, not a lot of Uchiha actually acquired the powerful Mangekyou Sharingan so there was only limited information on this legendary jutsu.

"Mangekyou Sharingan can deteriorate your eyesight after each use." Shocked faces were the reaction Hitsuka got for his answer. Itachi gave a serious nod and thanked his lucky star that he had someone like Hitsuka as a friend.

"It's getting light, you should go now," Kana suddenly said quietly. With one last sniff, she wiped her face and gave her eldest son a shaky smile. "Please take care of yourself."

"I will." Itachi gave his mother a hug and bent down to do the same to his brother. "Look after mum and dad," he whispered into the boy's ear. Sasuke gave a determined nod.

Turning around, Itachi gave Naruto a hug as well. Naruto was shocked but then he grinned and quickly hugged back. "Take care, Itachi-nii-san," he said softly with a sniff. He just found another person who liked him as a brother but now that person was leaving, he couldn't help but cried a bit too. Taking a shuddering he suddenly exclaimed, "I still need to beat you!" This caused everyone to laugh lightly.

'Naruto will always be Naruto,' Hitsuka thought fondly. He then noticed Itachi was in front of him who pulled him into a hug. Not quite used to such intimate gesture, he blushed. "Be careful when you're out there," he murmured, hugging the teenage back.

Looking into Hitsuka's eyes, Itachi whispered, only loud enough for the boy in front of him to hear, "Please promise me that you'll look after Sasuke for me, no matter what. Please."

Looking back at Itachi, Hitsuka smiled. "You don't even need to ask. I promise."

Itachi stood up and with one last look at those who had became his most precious people, he left. Three boys and one lady sat down to watch the sunrise in silence, all of them deep in their thoughts. So deep, no one noticed the tears that slid off a certain white-haired boy's face.

_A few days later_

Wondering why he was summoned by the Third, Hitsuka walked from the Uchiha mansion to the HQ. He and Naruto had been staying at the mansion on Kana's invitation which they gladly accepted. Because of them, Sasuke didn't have the time to be gloomy or anything. They were too busy training or helping Kana around the house. Kouji had been taken home for the hospital couldn't help him anyway. Hitsuka couldn't help but to feel guilty for taking Itachi away from the Uchiha family for it was him who came up with the idea. But he knew it was necessary.

The whole village had been in an uproar. Everyone was fed the false information of how it was Uchiha Itachi that attacked and killed those Uchiha and that he escaped. Itachi was now added on to the criminal booklet as an S-rank criminal, a fact that those who knew the truth loathed.

Hitsuka greeted the clerk, Sarasa, with a nod and started to climb the hated stairs. 'I hate you, I hate you, I hate you…' This new mantra was going over and over in his head, no doubt aiming at a certain old man. Finally reaching the top, he again had to fight the urge to throttle the old man on the other side of the door. 'At least...this is actually quite a good exercise,' he thought as he knocked on the door.

"Come in."

"Hokage-sama, Jiraiya-sama," Hitsuka said with a bow when he was in the room. The Third was sitting at his usual seat behind his desk while Jiraiya sat in front of him. "What can I do for you?"

"Hitsuka, please sit down," the Third said, pointing towards the seat next to the one Jiraiya was sitting on. Once the boy settled down, he began, "This meeting is about finding Tsunade."

"We don't have a plan yet and we could do with your help in making one," Jiraiya said, surprising the boy. Noticing the surprised look on Hitsuka's face, the older man sighed. "Don't look at me like that! Yes, I admit that you're smart. Okay?"

"Okay…" Hitsuka mumbled, still surprised. 'Jiraiya and I don't exactly have a great start so it's quite shocking that he actually acknowledge me now. I wonder what changed his mind.'

"Do you have a place in mind where she could be?" the Third asked, puffing on his pipe.

Hitsuka thought for a bit, trying to drag up a piece of memory. "I'm not really familiar with places outside Konoha but I think she might be there," he muttered.

"Where?" Jiraiya asked impatiently.

"Tanzaku Street."

"Why there?" the Third asked. He couldn't understand what was so special about that place that Tsunade would be there. 'Wait a sec, doesn't that place has the…'

"Because that place has the most expensive gambling den," Hitsuka answered with a smirk.

"Ah Tsunade-hime and her thing for gambling," Jiraiya said, finally catching onto Hitsuka's line of thoughts. "That place is not too far from here so even if you're wrong, it's a great place to start searching anyway."

"That's where you found her in the manga," Hitsuka said to the toad hermit. Catching the surprised looks from other two men, he quickly explained, "You see, this search for Tsunade-sama is not suppose to begin for another six years but a lot of things changed so…"

"Let's just hope she'll be there," the Hokage said with a sigh.

"Don't worry sensei, I'll leave today and start the search. I'll definitely find her," Jiraiya said confidently.

Hitsuka didn't look convinced. "It's not the finding part that's hard," he said thoughtfully, once again gaining the two older men's attention. "It's persuading her to come back. That'll be hard."

"So you know that too," Jiraiya sighed, his face taking on the sad look. "She probably won't want to come back, after what happened to those two…"

"Nawaki-san and Dan-san.. Tsunade-sama's brother and boyfriend, right?" Hitsuka asked and received nods for confirmation. Making up his mind, he said, "Jiraiya-sama, take Naruto with you."

"What! Are you mad," Jiraiya cried, jumping up and pointed an accusing at Hitsuka. "DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT AN AMAZING…"

Hitsuka, already knew the speech, tuned the idiot out. "You know Naruto has some sort of ability to make people stop worrying and believe in him instead. He may be the key to bring Tsunade-sama back," he said to the Third, trying to make the old man see his point.

"... THE LEGENDARY THREE'S WHITE-HAIRED…"

"I see what you mean, yes, Jiraiya should take Naruto," the Third agreed.

"... HANDSOME MAN THAT CAN SILENCE A CRYING CHILD…"

Making up his mind, and annoyed by Jiraiya's constant shouting, the Third ordered, "Jiraiya, you're taking Naruto and Hitsuka to find Tsunade."

"… JIRAIYA-SAMA!" Jiraiya yelled, finally finished his self-introduction.

Silence…

"WHAT!" Jiraiya cried. He couldn't believe his ears. There he was, telling his sensei and the brat the reason why he shouldn't take a brat with him on the trip. But now, he not only had to take not one, but two brats! "But, sensei I can't! They'll distract me when I do my research!"

Hitsuka gave a cough that sound suspiciously like 'pervert' which earned him a glare. "Can Sasuke come as well? After all, it is about his father," he asked the Third with an evil glint in his eyes.

"Well…" the Third pondered on the question, ignoring Jiraiya's shouts of "NO!" and his waving arms. "I don't see why not," he replied, winking at Hitsuka.

"NO!" Only the Third's and Hitsuka's laugh responded to Jiraiya's anguish cry.

"By the way, since when do you know healing jutsu?" the Third asked, suddenly interested.

"For quite a while actually," Hitsuka replied with a smile, ignoring Jiraiya's anguish cries. "Iyo-san is a great teacher."

"Ah of course... Iyo-san. I assume you are learning with Hinata?"

"Yes."

"NO" Jiraiya cried again. If the hime of Konoha was presented, she would surely give the frog hermit several punches in the face to shut him up.

_The next day_

"Where are those three brats? They better come soon or I'm leaving without them!" a white-haired man muttered under his breath. He was standing in front of the Konoha gate with his arms crossed, waiting impatiently with a scowl on his face.

"Hitsuka! Hurry up!" a blond boy yelled while racing with another boy, a brunette.

"Yeah, hurry up, Hitsuka!" the brunette yelled. They raced past one of the Legendary Three, leaving flying dust and debris behind, and towards their goal: the gate.

"GOAL!" the both yelled at the same time then they glared at each other. They started to argue over who won and who lost.

Jiraiya stood there in the same position but with a few extra popped veins on his now dusty forehead. "Why those little…" he snarled and heard someone snorted which was covered up in a coughing fit. Looking up, he saw an amused Hitsuka watching him.

"Sorry we're late. Had to stop Naruto from packing the whole apartment into his backpack," Hitsuka explained, holding down the bubbling mirth that threatened to spill up any moment.

"It's okay," Jiraiya grumbled and sighed. 'What have I got myself into now?'

"Let's go now! Hitsuka! Pervert-senin!" Naruto yelled.

Jiraiya blinked then yelled, "What the hell did you just call me! I'll have you know that I am-" Here he struck a pose and yelled, "THE LEGENDARY THREE'S WHITE-HAIRED…"

By the time he finished, the three kids were already out of the village and were walking towards their destination with Hitsuka in the lead, since he was the only one that had a map. "OY!" the white-haired hermit yelled again and raced after the boys. "WAIT!"

_Two hours later_

Both Naruto and Sasuke were bored and their stomachs were protesting in hunger. "Hitsuka I'm hungry" Naruto whined, pulling Hitsuka's sleeve. "Hitsuka!"

"I'm hungry too," Sasuke said, thankfully without the whining.

With a puzzled look, Hitsuka asked, "Didn't you two just have breakfast like, two hours ago?"

"Two very long hours ago," Sasuke replied with Naruto nodding furiously while clutching onto his stomach. "Please can we eat?"

With a small sigh, Hitsuka looked at the adult of the group. "Jiraiya-sama, maybe we should stop for a break," he said and got a nod for answer.

Looking around with squinted eyes, Jiraiya couldn't see any of those small teashops around. "We might have to walk a bit further," he said, looking down at Hitsuka, or where Hitsuka used to be. "What?"

"Jiraiya-sama! Over here!" Hitsuka yelled, waving at the man to get his attention. The three kids were on the side of the road where the grass grew and were sitting on a picnic blanket. Spread out in front of them were bento boxes packed full of all sorts of delicious food. Naruto and Sasuke dived in and gulped down their favourites while Hitsuka did the same but at a slower pace.

Jiraiya had to pick his jaw up from the hole it made when it decided to plunged into the sweet embrace of good old Mother Earth. "What the- How- My goodness- Kami-sama!" he spluttered. "Where the hell did those things come from?"

Looking confusingly at the man's odd behaviour, Hitsuka replied, "From my backpack. Are you okay, Jiraiya-sama? Sit down and have some food and tea."

Nodding dumbly, Jiraiya sat down slowly and accepted the chopsticks and a cup of tea from Hitsuka. "Thanks," he muttered and started to eat as well. He suddenly exclaimed, "Holly! This is great! Who made these?"

"Hitsuka did! He's a great cook isn't he," Naruto chirped, beaming at the blushing white-haired child. Abandoning his chopsticks for the faster way of eating, he wolfed down anything that came to his hands. Knowing this would happen; Hitsuka had prepared extra food for those who had missed out.

_A few days later_

After discovering how good Hitsuka could cook, Jiraiya had practically dumped the job of preparing the daily three meals on the young boy. Not wanting to find out if anyone of the other three male could become a cook as their second occupation, Hitsuka took the job with a few grumbles. 'At least my stomach stays safe,' he thought.

Right now, this strange group had finally arrived at their destination, or somewhat close to their destination. They would have already arrived in Tanzaku Street if they hadn't been stopped by the festival at a nearby town.

Naruto and Sasuke were looking all around them in amazement for they had never been out of the village before. Everything was new and exciting especially when there was festival going on. "Hitsuka!" Naruto turned to Hitsuka with his puppy dog eyes on while nudging Sasuke in his ribs. Catching on what Naruto was doing, Sasuke, too, gave the poor white-haired boy his puppy dog eyes.

Shaking his head with a small chuckle, Hitsuka sighed, "Fine, stop your eye thingy right now. Here's some money so go and have some fun." He handed over some notes from his wallet and looked at the two kids sternly. "You guys are old enough so I trust you to behave and look after each other. When you finished, go to the hotel we were looking at before and ask for me. Hand over your bags now and I'll take them with me to the hotel."

"Yes, sir!" both boys yelled, giving a mock salute. They then ran off together after giving up their bags, telling each other what they should do.

"Aren't you going with them?" Jiraiya asked from his position behind Hitsuka. It was just so weird watching a small kid like Hitsuka behaving like a parent.

"No… I'll have to go and get a hotel room while you go and find any information on Tsunade-sama. The sooner we get this over with the better. Besides, I'm a bit tired," Hitsuka replied, covering a small yawn. "So that means no 'information gathering' around the bathhouse for you." He placed Jiraiya's equipments for such act safely away in his backpack.

"When did you…!" Jiraiya asked with his eyebrows high up in his hair.

"When you were sleeping last night," Hitsuka said with an innocent smile. He then ran off before Jiraiya could do anything, perfectly hiding his presence amongst the bustling crowd. Jiraiya swore.

Still laughing quietly, Hitsuka got a room big enough for all of them at the hotel with no trouble. Although the person behind the counter did looked suspiciously at him until he 'accidentally' showed some of his wealth when he pretended to look for something in his wallet.

After dumping all the bags and backpacks on the one of the beds, the boy went hunting for a washing machine and, hopefully, a dryer with an armful of dirty clothes. "This will be the last time, the very last time that I'm doing any chores for these lazy morons," he muttered darkly under his breath.

-Why do you even bother?- Shion piped up, truly puzzled. -I thought you hate chores.-

'I still do,' Hitsuka thought with a mental sigh. 'I hate them with passion but out of this group, who's the only one that's responsible enough to clean up the mess? I'll give you a clue, he has white hair and is not a hermit.'

-Okay, I get it. Not need to be sarcastic.-

'Sorry…' Hitsuka thought and opened a door and a row of washing machine and dryer presented before his eyes. 'Heh! I found them!' Chucking the dirty clothes into the nearest washing machine and he scooped out some washing powder which went inside too. He sat down after pushing a few coins into the slot and started the machine.

-You're so much like our mother.-

Surprised by the sudden voice in his head, Hitsuka didn't catch what his brother said. 'What?'

-I said, you're so much like our mother,- Shion said with an impatient tone.

'Err… Why did you say that?'

-Mum was the only one that was willing to do this kind of chores at home. Now, you're just like her, doing chores.-

'Sure…' Hitsuka muttered and to Shion's surprise, the young boy fell asleep.

-He must be more tired than I thought,- Shion thought with raised eyebrows.

_Approximately half an hour later_

Hitsuka was waked up by the annoying constant beeping. He groggily opened his eyes, a bit confused by his surrounding. "What? Oh, the washings…" Stumbling slightly, he pulled the now clean clothes out and unloaded them into a dryer. A few coins and buttons later, he went back to sleep once again. That was where the others found him.

"Is he… asleep?" Sasuke asked, peering into Hitsuka's face. Already knew the answer because of the boy's slow and even breathing, Jiraiya nodded.

The trio had arrived in front of the hotel at the same time by chance. Finding out their room number wasn't hard at all and soon they were standing outside the door. After knocking and shouting brought no answer from the other side of the door, they decided that Hitsuka must be somewhere inside the building. The search was on.

"And the last place we search, is the place where Hitsuka is. How annoying is that?" Naruto huffed, crossing his arms and pouted. "Hitsuka wak-"

Jiraiya placed his large hand on Naruto's mouth. "Shh… Let him sleep. He didn't get a lot of sleep lately," he whispered and it was true. Hitsuka was often the last one out of the three kids to go to sleep for he had stayed up with Jiraiya to discuss information on Tsunade they found that day. He was also the first one to get up in the morning to prepare breakfast.

The two boys nodded and went to get the dry and clean clothes out from the dryer and waited for Jiraiya by the door. Jiraiya bent down and gently lifted Hitsuka up bridal style. The white-haired boy stirred but didn't wake up. The group moved quietly towards their room.

"Hey, Pervert-senin," Naruto whispered.

"What," Jiraiya said gruffly, a bit pissed off by the name but refrained himself from yelling for the fear of waking the sleeping child/teen in his arms.

"We should make dinner instead of Hitsuka tonight."

"Yeah… Hitsuka need a bit of rest," Sasuke agreed and swooped down to catch a falling sock from Naruto's pill.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

Thinking about the suggestion, Jiraiya nodded. "We should… Isn't there a kitchen in our room?"

"Yeah," Sasuke said with a nod. He remembered the clerk told the people before them that the rooms came with kitchens.

"Then let's cook!" Naruto said happily; glad that he could finally do something for his dear friend Hitsuka.

_Later in the hotel room_

"NO! Don't chuck that into the pot, brat!" This yell from a certain white-haired man woke Hitsuka up from his sleep.

"What? Where… am I?" he asked himself, looking around him. He was in a bedroom with the lights off which he recognised as their hotel room.

"Turn the heat DOWN! Not UP!" Another yell and Hitsuka pinned the voice to Jiraiya, from the direction of… the kitchen.

'OMG! Please don't tell me they've decided to cook!' Hitsuka thought in horror. In his rush to run out of the room, he accidentally tripped over a small stool and only his reflex saved him from knocking himself unconscious.

"Naruto, can you pass me the salt?" Sasuke's voice floated into Hitsuka's ears.

"Sure, here you go."

'I'm sure there's no salt left in the kitchen!' Hitsuka thought with dismay. 'So what did Naruto gave Sasuke?' Finally, he reached the kitchen in one piece. He fearfully peered into the kitchen from the doorway and nearly fainted. 'Wha-What have they done to the kitchen?'

Unthinkable things clutched onto every possible surfaces in the kitchen which includes the three males. Steaming pots and pans were on the stove, the oven was crammed full of what supposedly to be food. Naruto and Sasuke both supported a splitting face grin on their dirty faces.

"Hitsuka!" Naruto yelled happily, noticing the white-haired boy who had wished that he was anywhere else other than here in this kitchen. "Dinner will be ready soon!"

Hitsuka all but whimpered softly. "I-I'll set the table," he said weakly. Pulling out chopsticks and spoons, his mind whirled to come up with anything to get him away without hurting Naruto's feeling. 'I guess if I take off the weights around my wrists I may be able to hide my uneaten food by moving fast enough...'

"Be ready to be surprised by the delicacy we've created," Jiraiya yelled proudly from the kitchen, followed by the two boys' agreements.

"Sure..." Hitsuka said feebly. 'Who am I kidding! I'll never move fast enough to escape the pervert's eyes!'

While still preparing himself for the oncoming feast of doom, Hitsuka heard a muffled boom. "What the?" he muttered and rushed into the kitchen. The 'boom' seemed to come from the oven where it was too dark to see the inside through the glass panel. "What happened?" he asked.

"Don't know! It just went 'boom'!" Naruto said, surprise in every part of his face. He reached out to open the oven door while saying, "I wonder what happened inside..."

"NO! Naruto, don't open the door!" Hitsuka suddenly yelled but he was too late. As soon as the door was opened, oxygen rushed inside the oven which ignited the charcoal a.k.a food inside. With a burst of heat, fire erupted from the open oven door.

Knowing what would happen, Hitsuka was just in time to push Naruto out of the harms way. Unfortunately, the food on the table that the trio had worked so hard on wasn't so lucky. They also burst into flame in a short amount of time.

Moving quickly, both Sasuke and Jiraiya grabbed for water. Sasuke ended up with a vase that used to have flowers inside but was closed to be fried now and Jiraiya was by the sink, scooping water out onto the flame. The fire was put out in no time.

"That was close," Jiraiya said with a sigh, wiping his forehead with his wet hand.

"What happened?" Sasuke asked, looking at the burnt oven.

Climbing up to stop himself from crushing Naruto, Hitsuka started to explain to Sasuke the simple yet dangerous science reaction of giving oxygen to a fire in a vacuum space.

"AH!" Naruto suddenly yelled, pulling everyone out of Hitsuka brief but detailed explanation. "The food! They are RUINED!"

"That's unfortunate," Hitsuka said with regret but inwardly he was crying with relief. 'Thank God! Thank you!'

"Let's clean up the mess," Jiraiya sighed and everyone got to work. After the kitchen was as clean as possible, Hitsuka decided to get take-out for their dinner. That was the end of their rather busy and interesting night.

_The next day_

"BYE!" both Naruto and Sasuke yelled as they ran out of the door. They had decided to go and do some training with Sasuke a few extra kilo heavier. He had used his ultimate weapon, Puppy Dog Eyes no jutsu, on Hitsuka. Defeated, Hitsuka lent his wrist and ankle bands to the boy, each weighing 4 kilos after some weights were taken out.

'I'm such a softy,' Hitsuka silently scolded himself.

"Hitsuka! Are you ready yet? I swear you must be a woman in you last life for you take such a long time to get ready!" Jiraiya yelled from his position by the door. If not for the fact that Jiraiya was such an important ninja, Hitsuka would have murdered the man right there. But that didn't mean he couldn't hurt him.

_AN: This part has been censored due to it being far too gruesome but I can tell you Jiraiya will never dare to bad-mouth Hitsuka again. _

"Where are we going again?" Hitsuka asked a trembling Jiraiya.

"To the one place that you said where Tsunade-hime may be," Jiraiya replied as he tried to recompose himself.

"The gambling den in Tanzaku Street..."

Unfortunately, Tsunade wasn't there nor had she been there. Disappointed, the two male decided to go to a restaurant for lunch. While waiting for their meals and drinks to come, Hitsuka overheard two people's happy conversation behind him. "Man! I've never seen anyone loosing so much in such a short time," one said.

"Yeah! She has to be the Legendary Sucker!"

"Jiraiya-sama," Hitsuka whispered. "They might know something."

"Right..." Jiraiya stood up and walked to the pair with Tsunade's picture in his hand. "Excuse me, I'm looking for this woman. Do you know her?"

The two men traded a look and Hitsuka instantly knew what was going to happen. One of the men (let's call him Gambler A) said with a smirk, "Yeah, we know her alright. I can tell you more but you'll have to gamble for the information."

Jiraiya shrugged and sat down. "What if I loose?" he asked.

"You hand over your money."

Jiraiya wasn't too happy with this arrangement but what else could he do? "Fine, I guess its acceptable," he agreed with a sigh. "How are we going to gamble? Dice?"

"No..." the second man (let's call him Gambler B) said slowly with a grin. He pulled out something from his shirt pocket and placed it down on the table. It was a packet of playing cards. "Know how to play poker?"

Jiraiya made a face. "Po... What?" he asked. He had never ever heard of this card game before so how was he supposed to gamble for the information?

'Oh yeah! We've hit a jackpot,' Gambler A thought with joy. They had found their next 'Legendary Sucker'!

"Jiraiya-sama, let me play."

"Eh?" the three adults cried out simultaneously in surprise.

"Kid, you're too young to gamble," Gambler B said kindly, leaning down to pat Hitsuka's head while Gambler A burst out laughing.

"But I know how to play," Hitsuka said and gave a small pout. "Meanies!"

'He's so cute!' was the thought that flashed through both Gambler A and B's mind.

"O-Okay, you can play. But the rules are still the same if you lose," Gambler A said, breaking down by Hitsuka's cute-ness.

_A few minutes later_

"Royal flush. Sorry, I win," Hitsuka said with an apologetic smile. Indeed, in front of him were five cards of Heart 10, J, Q, K and Ace.

Two sets of jaws went through the table with a loud crash. Both Gamblers couldn't believe that they had lost to a kid! They had even cheated to make sure that they would win. But... "A-Again! This time we gamble for money," Gambler A yelled while Gambler B nodded furiously.

Hitsuka looked a bit surprised then he shrugged. "Whatever you say."

So they gambled and approximately half an hour later, Hitsuka and Jiraiya left the restaurant with information on Tsunade and a few ten thousand dollars (I don't know Naruto World's currency and I'm quite sure its not yen) richer.

"That kid... he gambles like a pro," Gambler A muttered in shock and Gambler B could only nodded in agreement.

"Man! Where did you learn to gamble like that?" Jiraiya asked Hitsuka who looked very happy.

"My dad taught me and my brother poker," Hitsuka said the he chuckled. "Mum nearly made dad deaf with all her yelling."

"That doesn't explain how you can win every time."

"Well... I cheated," Hitsuka said quietly and blushed when Jiraiya cried out in surprise.

"You WHAT!"

"They cheated too," the white-haired boy tried to defend himself. "Anyway, don't we have someone to look for now?"

"Oh yeah. The two gamblers said that Tsunade-hime's companion, a girl approximately 12 years old, said their hotel name when they were leaving the den," Jiraiya recited from memory. "Should we go and find that hotel now?"

"I don't know..." Hitsuka said. He really wasn't sure what he should do now that they had found Tsunade. How to convince the woman that had left Konoha so many years ago to come back to the place that took away the people that she loved? He would have to this about this. "Perhaps not now," he told Jiraiya and started to walk back their hotel.

_That night_

Still unable to use their kitchen due to last night's incident and with the money from the gamblers, Hitsuka decided that they should go out for a good meal. Leaving the two younger kids to choose their restaurant, the group soon arrived in front of a small but cosy looking restaurant. Quickly finding a place to sit, they looked through the menu.

After the waitress left their table, Naruto and Sasuke started to tell Hitsuka what they did that day with enthusiasm. The white-haired boy listened with interests. "And, and, we made a new friend today!" Naruto all but yelled.

"Really? What's his name?" Hitsuka asked.

"It's actually her," Sasuke said, eating his onigiri which had just arrived.

"A girl?" Hitsuka was somewhat shocked to hear that.

"Yup! She's older than us and she's very nice. We met her when we were exploring the forest. She was picking some flowers," Naruto said then he dove into his bowl of ramen. Hitsuka sweat-dropped at this.

"So what's her name?" Jiraiya asked, pouring out some sake for himself.

"Shizune-nee-san!" Naruto said happily around a mouthful of noodles. Hitsuka choked on his tomato juice.

"Are you okay?" Sasuke asked worryingly, patting the hacking boy's back.

"Yes, I'm fine," Hitsuka said weakly. 'This is the second time that Naruto made friends with the key people,' he thought. 'How is this possible? Must be Naruto's special power!'

_The next day_

Both Naruto and Sasuke had decided to go and find their new friend Shizune, pulling Hitsuka behind them. They ran into the forest they were in yesterday and began their search. "Is she at where she was picking flowers yesterday?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke took a look and shook his head. "No, she's not there today," he said with regret.

Hitsuka took a look around him and sigh. 'Don't tell me we have to search the whole forest for Shizune,' he thought. 'Anyway, since we are in this forest, I might as well look for some medical herbs for me and Hinata-chan's lesson.'

So he went his way, leaving the two yelling boys behind him. "Shizune-nee-san!" they yelled.

Pulling out a book from his backpack, he started to try to match the herbs on the ground with the pictures in the book. He happily placed a few herbs into a small basket he brought with him. "When I get a chance, I really should look more carefully for these herbs in the Konoha forest," he said quietly to himself. "Hmm?" He looked up when someone's soft singing came into his hearing range. "Who can it be?"

Walking quietly towards the source of the singing, a young girl with short black hair soon came into his view. Although Hitsuka had only seen the grown up Shizune but this girl was obviously her. She was doing exactly what Hitsuka was doing: picking herbs. Herbs which Hitsuka recognized for a tea especially for hangovers. 'Looks like Tsunade-sama had been drinking last night,' he thought with a small sweat-drop.

Suddenly, the singing stopped and Shizune's took on a worry look. "Where is it?" Hitsuka could hear her muttering. "Where is it?"

"Do you need some help?" Hitsuka said, coming out from the bushes. The sudden noise startled Shizune.

"Who are you?" she asked.

Seeing her so startled, Hitsuka replied with an apologetic smile, "Sorry, my name is Hitsuka."

"Mine's Shizune."

"You must be the wonderful Shizune-nee-san I've heard so much from Naruto and Sasuke," Hitsuka said with a grin as he watched the girl blushed.

"Did they really say that," she asked quietly.

"Yeah. So… what are you looking for? Maybe I can help."

"I'm looking for a kind of herb for a tea but I can't find it… and I can't remember its name," she said, looking around her.

"Can I have a look at your basket?" Hitsuka asked, holding out his hand. Shrugging lightly, Shizune placed her small basket on the white-haired boy's hand. "So you're going to make a tea especially for hangovers, aren't you?"

"How do you know?" Shizune asked with a surprised tone. This boy in front shouldn't be older than seven yet he could tell what she was going to make by just looking at the herbs!

"I study medic too, Shizune-nee-san. Is it okay if I call you that?" Hitsuka asked.

"Sure, it's fine," the girl replied with a wave of her hand.

"Here, I have the herb you're looking for. You can find this in a clearing a few meters away from here," Hitsuka said, giving Shizune the said herb from his own collection of herbs.

"Thank you!" Shizune said happily and then she suddenly remembered something. "You've mentioned Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun before… Do you know them well?" she asked curiously.

"Know them well? I'm practically their guardian," Hitsuka answered. For quite a while they chatted about anything as they walked towards the town so Shizune could make the tea. From their favourite colour to what it was like taking care of someone.

All of a sudden, something crashed through the bushes and into the kids/teens path. "What the?" Shizune asked in shock.

"I've found you! Shizune-nee-san!" two voices yelled out in union. It was Naruto and Sasuke with twigs and leaves sticking onto their hair and clothes. Both boys paused momentarily then started to glare at each other. "I found her first!" they yelled. Veins started to pop. "Stop copying me!" once again, they screamed at the same time.

Hitsuka sighed and gave a look to Shizune that said, "See what I have to put up with?" Shizune couldn't help but giggled.

* * *

That's the end of this chapter and I hope you like it. I'm sure a lot of you know that I was kidding when I said I'll throw this chapter into the bin. How can I throw my baby away?

I've just been to see Narnia. It was so cool! You've got to see it if you haven't already. I went to see Narnia at 10.30pm on the 31st of December 2005 and I came out at 12.45am on the 1st of January 2006. So I've spent two years watching this movie. Feels kinda funny.

It's now 1.22 in the morning and I still need to go and have a shower, so good night everyone and I wish everyone that's reading this fic a Happy New Year!

P.S. Please review, don't think I've forgotten!


	16. Chapter 16

Sorry for the long wait. I hope none of you had cursed me during this wait but I'm sure you all had at one point. I have no excuse so… just read the fic. By the way, in my haste to get this on net, I might've made some mistakes for I only proof-read it once. I'll apologize in advance.

Disclaimer: I always forget to write this. Obviously I don't own Naruto because I CAN'T DRAW!

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

**Kyuubi talking**

-Shion talking-

* * *

Chapter sixteen

After agreeing to meet the three boys that afternoon, Shizune rushed to get back to the hotel room she shared with her master/teacher. 'I've been out for too long,' she thought worryingly.

Bursting through the door, she had to duck to avoid the flying chair which was thrown at her head. "Be quiet!" a voice groaned. It was a blond young woman who would be beautiful if not for the fact that she was suffering the world's worst hangover accompanied by a major headache.

"Tsunade-sama! If you haven't drunk so much sake last night you won't be in this state right now!" Shizune said with a huff as she swiftly prepared the hangover tea on the table. "And please refrain yourself from throwing anymore furniture," she added and Tsunade slowly put down the bedside table she was holding onto behind the teenager.

"Are you done yet?" Tsunade asked grumpily and flopped back down on the bed. She laid her arm across her eyes in an attempt to hide from the cheerful sun. "Stupid sun," she muttered when the intense sunlight increased her headache.

"Tsunade-sama," Shizune said quietly, holding out a steaming cup of tea. "Careful, it's hot."

"Thanks," Tsunade replied gratefully, sipping on the tea that would kill her headache and grumpiness in no time.

"Tsunade-same, I'll be going out soon. Will you be fine without me?" the girl asked, a bit concerned at the state her master was in. "Would you like me to stay instead?"

"No. I'll be fine," the blond woman replied. "Where are you going?"

"To the forest with the three boys I've met and made friends with yesterday and today," Shizune replied, putting on a sunhat. "I should be back before dinner."

"Ah… young love," Tsunade said with a grin as the small girl blushed.

"Tsunade-sama! They're all just kids!" Shizune cried with her face burning.

"Well… I guess you can be a paedophile. You never know."

"TSUNADE-SAMA!"

_Later that day, around 1 o'clock_

"Shizune-nee-san! Over here!" Naruto yelled, causing Hitsuka's ears to ring.

"Hey, you guys! I'm sorry I'm late," Shizune panted, bent over on her knees to get a rest.

"Don't worry. Here, have a drink," Hitsuka said, handing over a bottle of juice.

They had decided that they should go deeper into the forest to explore. While both Naruto and Sasuke were going merely for fun, Shizune and Hitsuka were going to collect useful and, if possible, rare medical herbs.

"Strange mushroom!" Naruto suddenly exclaimed as he held up the said fungus. It was a brightly coloured mushroom with a yellow poky-dots design. "Wonder what it tastes like?"

"Don't eat it!" Hitsuka yelled but it was too late. Naruto already took a big bite from the mushroom. Worried, Hitsuka quickly rushed up to the blond child and looked for any sigh of sickness. "How are you feeling? Do you feel sick or dizzy? Do you fe-"

"I'm fine! Hitsuka, don't worry!" Naruto said with a grin. He ran around the white-haired boy to show that he was indeed fine. "I don't think it was a poisonous mushroom."

Hitsuka gave a sigh in relief, then roaring fire erupted from behind him, casting his face into shadows, as he began to tell the shorter boy off, "Never, and I mean NEVER, eat anything that you don't know and is brightly coloured. Most of the time those are POISONOUS! You could be DEAD RIGHT NOW if you weren't so LUCKY!"

Naruto whimpered and hid behind Sasuke, who too, was scared of the angry boy. So they both ran and hid behind Shizune for protection. "Calm down, Hitsuka-kun. I'm sure Naruto-kun understands the seriousness now," Shizune said with a smile. "Although I'll have to agree with you on the importance of this matter."

"I'm sorry!" Naruto said quietly and peeked up at Hitsuka through his fringes.

Defeated by this picture of cuteness and innocence, Hitsuka sighed again and shrugged. "Just don't do it ever again," he said sternly and got nods for reply.

As the danger (Hitsuka) had past, everyone started to chat again. They soon to the topic of what everyone wanted to be when they grew up. "I want, no, I will be the best medic-nin ever!" Shizune said confidently. 'Just like Tsunade-sama.'

"I want to be an anbu captain and do all these difficult and dangerous missions," Sasuke said, thinking of his brother's achievements. "What about you, Naruto? What do you want to be?"

Grinning happily, Naruto proudly said, "I wanna be the best and the strongest Hokage ever! Beating all the Hokage before me."

Hitsuka was a bit shocked to hear this for he had never heard Naruto mention anything about this before. He knew the Naruto in the manga wanted to be the Hokage with the condition he live in. Naruto lived in nearly the same condition but he had friends around him. 'So what made him want to be Hokage this time?' Hitsuka wondered.

"Why?" Shizune asked curiously.

"So people will look at me with respectful eyes," Naruto said happily, imagining what his future would be. He didn't notice that Hitsuka was saddened by this comment.

'Great dream, Naruto. Great dream,' Hitsuka thought with a sad smile.

"Good on you, Naruto-kun," Shizune said with her thumbs up. She didn't really understand the meaning behind the boy's comment for she hadn't seen the way the villagers looked at Naruto. "What about you, Hitsuka-kun?"

"Me?" Hitsuka was surprised being so suddenly in the centre of attention. To tell the truth, he hadn't even thought of what his future was going to be with all the complexity he already had in the present. "I don't know," he said honestly. "I'll probably work beside this future Hokage-sama here."

Naruto gave a splitting smile with a small blush when he heard this. He happily skipped around the group but was tripped over by a log when he was beside Sasuke. Trying to keep his balance, he pulled at Sasuke.

Not expecting this, Sasuke tripped as well, ending up in a heap on the ground with Naruto. In a playful mood, Sasuke jumped up and started to chase Naruto around, both laughing loudly. Shizune giggled while Hitsuka shook his head and sighed.

Racing ahead of the more mature pair, Naruto ran down a slope with Sasuke hot on his tail. With the force of gravity acting on Naruto, he soon tripped over again and started to roll down the hill. With the high speed he was going at, he failed to notice the dangerously sharp branch sticking out of the ground in his path.

"NARUTO/NARUTO-KUN!" Hitsuka and Shizune yelled at the same time for they had seen the branch from their position on the top of the hill.

Squish! Was the sound made when the branch entered the side of Naruto's body.

Splurt… This flat, horrible sound was made when Naruto's body pulled itself free of the stick as he continued to roll.

Finally, Naruto's body came to a stop when the force behind his roll dispersed. Managed to stay up right during his run, Sasuke was the first one to arrive by Naruto's side. Bile rose in his throat when he saw the state his best friend was in.

Lying weakly on his back, a gaping hole of the size of a small fist was punctured through Naruto's stomach, bleeding freely. Hitsuka arrived by the boy only a few seconds after Sasuke. The Uchiha boy couldn't help but turn his head away and retched. He had seen a large amount of blood before during the attack on the Uchiha clan. But this time was different; it was his friend lying in a pool of his own blood!

Numb, Hitsuka slowly sank to his knees, staring at his brother. 'OMIGOSH! OMIGOSH! OMIGOSH! etc… Why isn't father (Kyuubi) healing him! What do I do!? What do I DO!?' he thought frantically, not noticing his blood soaked kimono.

"Hitsuka! Can you heal him?" Sasuke asked in a shaky voice, pulling the white-haired boy out of his numb state.

"Heal… him?" Hitsuka said slowly.

"Yes! Like what you did for me!"

"Right… healing chakra…" Placing his now green chakra surrounded hands on the wound, he started to heal Naruto.

"Oh my…" Shizune gasped when she finally reached the three boys. "Look at him…"

"Shizune-nee-san," Hitsuka said, now a lot calmer and started to think. "Please go and get your sensei, Tsunade-sama. I can't heal Naruto for I don't have the skill. Please!" he pleaded.

"Ri-Right!" Shizune stammered and ran off. It never occurred to her that somehow, Hitsuka knew who her teacher was when she didn't even mention the great medic-nin before.

"Sasuke, please go and find Jiraiya-sama. He should be at the hotel."

"Right away," Sasuke said and sprinted away.

"Hold on, Naruto. Please hold on," Hitsuka whispered desperately, pushing his own life energy in the blond child to keep him alive. "I won't let you die!"

Time ticked by and Hitsuka held on for as long as possible. For him, it seemed like hours before Shizune finally came rushing with Tsunade right behind her. But it had only been a little bit more than half an hour that had passed. Both Sasuke and Jiraiya arrived a few minutes after the female pair.

Tsunade body and mind instantly froze when she saw the two boys on the ground, covered in what she feared the most. Blood. It was everywhere…

She couldn't understand a word Shizune said when the girl came crashing through the door of their hotel room. She nearly tore the thing down in her haste to get to the woman. After yelling something unrecognisable, Tsunade was dragged out by the small girl all the way to the forest. To say that she was surprised at the strength the girl possessed was understandable. She was a bit amused by the girl but now she sure wasn't.

Jiraiya was at first surprised by the presence of Tsunade-hime herself, but that was soon cast aside when he saw Naruto and Hitsuka. He immediately went to Hitsuka's side, asking himself if there was anything he could do. 'None,' he realised. 'There's nothing I can do!'

'But Tsunade can.'

"Tsunade!" Jiraiya yelled, not adding the princess suffix anymore for the situation was grim. "Tsunade! Heal the boy! I know you can."

Tsunade made no sign of hearing the man. She merely hugged herself and trembled in fear. Grinding his teeth together in frustration, Jiraiya grabbed his old team mate by her shoulders and bellowed, "Pull yourself together! Dammit! This boy is dying! SAVE HIM!"

Still, there was no response.

"Shizune-nee-san," Hitsuka said quietly but the worried teen was able to hear him. "Do you know how to block blood flow from a wound?"

"Yes, I know."

"Can you please take over for a few minutes?"

With a firm nod, Shizune knelt beside the white-haired boy. "Leave it to me."

Standing up slowly, Hitsuka turned and walked towards the adults on shaky legs. Unable to walk more than a few steps with his cramped muscles, he managed to reach Tsunade before he collapsed on to his knees in front of the woman. Not noticing the boy with her unseeing eyes, Tsunade made no response when Hitsuka called out her name.

"Tsunade-sama," Hitsuka repeated, reaching up to take hold of the hem of the woman's shirt. "Please, help him."

"Let go!" Tsunade screeched when she noticed the bloody hands touching her. She pulled at her shirt in an attempt to free herself. "Let go of me!"

Holding on with what little strength he had left, Hitsuka was determined to let her understand. "Tsunade-sama! Please save Naruto! I've seen my older brother died in front of my eyes, I don't want it to happen again!" he cried out as tear started to gather at the corners of his eyes. "Please save him, my little brother!"

Pausing in her wild tug-of-war with Hitsuka, Tsunade somehow had let the boy's words sank into her mind. 'Little brother… Nawaki…'

Hitsuka noticed Tsunade's cease of movements. He looked up and came face to face with the only woman that could save his brother now. "Please, Tsunade-sama. He… He still has a dream to fulfil. He's going to be the best Hokage ever; he's the future of Konoha! Please don't take that away from him," he pleaded. "Please, I beg you."

Suddenly, Naruto gave a gurgle and coughed out some blood. Shizune's cry in surprise was enough for Hitsuka to be back at his brother's side. "I can't hold on any more," Shizune whispered, her body shaking with fatigue.

"Thank you, I'll take over now," Hitsuka said, frowning in concentration as his hands once again started to glow in green. 'I'll save you, Naruto! Even if it does mean I have to die through chakra exhaustion.'

Staring at the boy's back who had begged her to save someone's life, someone who was not even related to him! If those were the boys Shizune told her this morning. "Why? Why are you doing this?" she asked, her voice trembling.

For awhile, there was no response from Hitsuka. Then he answered, "Like I said before, he's my only family left alive and has a great dream to fulfil." He turned his head to look at Tsunade. "Tsunade-sama, I'll do anything to see the day Naruto becomes Hokage."

"_I will be honoured with the name Hokage… Because being Hokage is my dream."_

Two voices of her past echoed in her mind. 'Nawaki… Dan…' Tsunade thought, the images of those who she loved swam in front of her eyes. 'Can I let myself do nothing and once again see another dream die?' As she pondered, her trembling started to stop.

Hitsuka was crying in frustration. He knew he was at his limit even though his chakra capacity surpassed many others. "No… NO!" he choked out as his vision started to turn black around the edge. The green light around his hands grew dimmer by seconds and his body was shaking almost violently. 'I'm sorry, Naruto…'

Just before he blacked out, two large, warm hands covered his own smaller ones. "Don't worry, I'll save him," a feminine voice said beside his ear. "Rest now."

"Thank you… Tsunade-sama…" Hitsuka murmured, falling into a deep slumber.

It wasn't until the next afternoon that Naruto woke what could have been his never ending sleep. He groaned when he moved to sit up. This attracted both Sasuke and Shizune from their game of go. "Naruto/Naruto-kun!" they yelled at the same time, jumping up and knocking over the game board to get to the blond boy's side. Later, Sasuke would regret this for he was finally winning, making the score 7:2 to Shizune. But for now, he was more interested in bopping Naruto on the head for the trouble he caused.

"Ouch! What was that for?" Naruto yelled.

"For making us worry!"

The racket caused the adults to poke their heads in through the doorway. "You look energetic for someone who was dying only yesterday," Jiraiya said dryly and Tsunade couldn't help but agreed.

"Huh?" Where am I? Who's this lady? Where's Hitsuka?" Naruto fired a series of questions at the others.

"You're at your hotel room," Shizune said softly, handing the boy a glass of water.

"And I'm the one who saved your life, brat," Tsunade said cheerfully, coming to sit beside the bed. "Name's Tsunade, the pervert's team mate."

"What! So you're an old hag!" Naruto cried out in surprise and Jiraiya was just fast enough to stop Tsunade from giving the idiotic boy the death punch. Ignoring the yells of anger and death threats, Naruto asked again, "Where's Hitsuka?"

Shizune and Sasuke gave each other a nervous look they moved aside. Another bed came into Naruto's view. "Hitsu… ka?" Lying on the bed was the said boy, pale and unmoving. The only sigh of life was the slight rise and fall of his chest. "Hitsuka!" Naruto yelled, jumping off his bed and stumbled across the room. "What happened to him!"

Putting his large hands on the blond child's shoulders, Jiraiya softly explained, "He drained nearly all of his chakra reserve to keep you alive until Tsunade-hime could heal you. He's fine and should wake in a few days."

"He's fine?"

"Yeah."

"Okay…" Naruto muttered, sitting down beside Hitsuka to wait for the boy to wake up.

That night, Naruto decided to sleep beside Hitsuka like what they did at home, even though the bed was only a single. "Thank you, Hitsuka, for saving me again," he murmured, drifting off to sleep beside the other boy.

**You're finally here.**

"Huh?" Naruto asked stupidly, looking left and right to find the source of the voice. "Father?"

**Who else can it be? Come here, **Kyuubi growled softly, causing the air to vibrate in a somewhat soothing manner. Shrugging slightly, Naruto walked down the straight corridor, this time moss-green.

**Hey kit! Come over here,** Kyuubi said when he saw Naruto.

As he came closer to the cage, he saw another figure lying against the large fox. Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. "Hitsuka!" he cried out, running towards the said boy through the bars. He knelt down beside the boy and gently touched Hitsuka's face with a shaking hand. "Is he…?"

**Yeah, he's sleeping right now. Been that way for the whole day,** Kyuubi said and wiggled slightly to make his white-haired kit more comfortable. After tugging the boy in with one of his nine tails, he promptly smacked Naruto with another.

"Ouch!" Naruto cried out for the second time that day and immediately reached out to rub his abused head.

**Idiot! **Kyuubi growled, his chest rumbling.

"Why d'you say that," Naruto asked with tears around his eyes. 'This feels like déjà vu,' he thought.

**Don't eat strange colourful mushrooms! They can be dangerous and poisonous! **Kyuubi said, almost the same as what Hitsuka said the previous day. ** Like that yellow poky-dot mushroom, it stops the eater's chakra from flowing properly. That was why I was unable to heal you with my chakra. You could've died if it wasn't for Hitsuka.**

Naruto was shocked to hear this piece of information. "So it was my own fault?" he asked softly, eyes down-cast. "It was my fault that Hitsuka is in this state?"

Kyuubi's eyes softened when he saw how sorry Naruto was. **Stop beating yourself over this,** he said kindly. **You'll know what ****not**** to do next time**"

With new confidence rising, Naruto nodded his head. "I won't eat anything that's colourful and unknown next time. I'll work harder so Hitsuka won't have to protect me anymore!" he said firmly.

"Naruto?" someone muttered sleepily. Hitsuka sat up from the pile of fur, rubbing his eyes. "Father? Where am I?"

Before Kyuubi could reply, Naruto pounced onto Hitsuka, hugging the boy to his death… again. "Hitsuka!"

Fortunately for Hitsuka, he didn't need air in his current state to stay alive for he was like his older brother, some kind of spirit, with the difference of his body being still alive. 'This is actually quite useful,' Hitsuka thought absently. "I'm fine, Naruto. You can let go of me now," he assured the boy.

With glittering eyes that were full of tears, Naruto apologised on the top of his voice, "I AM SO SORRY, HITSUKA! SORRY! SORRY! etc…"

"Just be careful next time," Hitsuka said with a soft smile.

Noticing for the first time where he was, he turned to ask Kyuubi, brows knotted in concern, "Assuming my body (AN: that sounds weird) is in the hotel room with Naruto's, won't anyone notice that there's a string of red chakra connecting us two?"

**No…** Kyuubi said, looking a bit confused. **Because I didn't send out anything to connect you. You just suddenly appeared when you fell unconscious yesterday.**

"Eh?" Naruto and Hitsuka cried at the same time.

"How's that possible," Naruto asked, his head cocked to one side.

"I don't know," Hitsuka said, looking truly confused. "I am only able to come here into Naruto's mind through the connection created by Father's chakra. But right now, there is no chakra connection so how is it possible that I'm here? Unless…"

Watching his kit's face changed from confusion to realisation, Kyuubi asked, **Unless… what?**

"Unless, my chakra had somehow fused with or became part of Naruto when I was keeping him alive. Through my chakra, I was somehow able to become a presence in Naruto's mind!" Hitsuka explained happily.

"That's great!" Naruto exclaimed even though he didn't understand half the things Hitsuka said. "Now I can always talk to Hitsuka!"

**I've never heard of such in my whole life, **Kyuubi said, laying his head on top of his front paws. **But that's the only possible explanation for now. **Grinning happily at each other, Hitsuka and Naruto danced around holding hands.

_The next morning_

"Naruto. Wake up, Naruto."

A gentle voice washed over Naruto in waves, making him wanting to go back to sleep. "Just five more minutes," he muttered, rolling onto his side… and landed on the floor with a painful thud. "Ow…" he groaned in pain. "That hurts."

Quietly giggling, Hitsuka peeked at Naruto from the edge of their bed. "Are you okay?"

"What do you think?" Naruto said sarcastically then paused. Finally realised who he was talking, he squealed and launched himself at Hitsuka. "HITSUKA!!"

WHAM! Naruto's face came in contact with the pillow and his body, unfortunately, with the wall. "Eh!? Where did he go?" he wondered out loud, looking left and right.

The sound of shower being turned on drew the blond boy's attention to the general direction of bathroom. Giving Naruto a small wave, Hitsuka closed the door to prepare to clean himself up.

_A while later_

Both Jiraiya and Tsunade woke up groaning due to the pounding headache in their heads. "Here."

A steaming cup of tea appeared under their noses which the female medic immediately recognised: hangover tea, Saviour! She downed it in one gulp, glad that someone was thoughtful enough to cool it down first. Jiraiya was having the same thought.

"Sasuke, Shizune-nee-san, wake up. Your breakfast is getting cold," Hitsuka said, poking at the two children. "Wake up."

Mumbling nonsense, Sasuke merely turned away from Hitsuka's poking fingers and fell back to sleep. Shizune woke up with her hair sticking out in every possible direction. "Morning, Hitsuka-kun," she said with a yawn and half wobbled to the bathroom.

"Shizune-nee-san! Watch out for the-"

THUMP!

"-wall…" Hitsuka finished rather lamely. Stumbling a bit, Shizune managed to finish her short journey safely. Hitsuka turned to look at Sasuke and decided to be a bit mean. With a heave, he pulled the cover off the brunet and threw the curtains open. 'If this doesn't work, I'll bring out the water bucket.'

Sasuke frowned when the warmth was gone and a brilliant light was shining in his face. "Fine! I'm getting up!" he gave up with a yell.

'Damn,' Hitsuka thought, disappointed. With a smile, so his thoughts would not be betrayed by his face, he repeated, "Hurry! Your breakfast is getting cold." Sasuke gave a mumbled reply.

So used to the morning routine, no one (other than Naruto) noticed that someone was up and about until much later at breakfast.

"Hitsuka-kun, can you please pass me salt?" Shizune asked, her brain still only half awake. Hitsuka followed the request.

"This is great! Who made this?" Tsunade exclaimed, savouring her omelette.

"Hitsuka did," Jiraiya muttered, concentrating on eating his own breakfast. "He's the best cook ever! I tell you. Wait, Hitsuka's breakfast… Isn't he supposed to be unconscious?"

Four heads twisted to stare at Hitsuka with disbelieving eyes. "HITSUKA/HITSUKA-KUN!?" they yelled at the same time and the two adults instantly groaned for their headache hadn't completely vanished yet.

After that was a bit of chaos as people rushed to check Hitsuka, knocking over things and each other. To sum it up, everyone was happy that the boy was up and well.

After breakfast, Hitsuka decided to go and have some free time to himself. After all, he had been so busy that he had yet to have any fun at the town's festival! But as soon as he walked out of the hotel, a cry was issued from their shared room. "HITSUKA! WHERE ARE YOU!?"

'That's Naruto,' Hitsuka thought with a sweat-drop. He didn't want to be mean and make Naruto worry who had suddenly became very protective for some reason, but he really wanted to be alone for a while!

Sliding into a shadowy alley, Hitsuka quickly did a few hand seals before whispering, "Henge." There was a small 'POOF' and from the shadows walked out a teen around fifteen with layered black hair instead of the white-haired six year old.

'I can't believe I still remember what I used to look like, err… what I'll look like in the future? No, past. No, future… Who cares…' the now older boy thought (quite a confusing one too) as he looked at his reflection in a shop window. Gone was the black kimono, in its place was a loose, black T-shirt and a pair of jeans.

"Hopefully no one can recognise me now…" he muttered quietly.

Now, feeling somewhat free, Hitsuka walked with the crowd to enjoy the festival, remembering to hide his presence.

_Back at the hotel_

"Where the heck is he!?" Naruto said panicky, pacing backwards and forwards.

"Stop worrying," Jiraiya said, watching TV. "He should have some time to himself. Don't worry."

"Bu-But!" Naruto protested.

"Just shut up," Sasuke growled, trying to concentrate on his game of go with Shizune.

Naruto sat down with a pout on his lips. Decided gloomily that the old pervert was right, he started to complain on another matter. "I'm bored."

Feeling his patient started to strain, Jiraiya suggested, "Then do something." His eyes were still glue to the TV screen.

Wondering what was so interesting on TV that Jiraiya hardly ever blinked. "What are you watching?" he asked, sitting down beside the man.

Giggling happily (and a perverted one too), Jiraiya pointed his large finger at a pair of… rather fine melons (cough, cough). "Watch them jingle! Hehe! Aren't they beautiful? Look at that curve, look at that-"

THUMP! THUMP!

"Don't you dare corrupt that boy," Tsunade snarled, back to herself from that morning's hangover. Looking fresh and energetic, she was ready to go out and have some fun at some gambling dens. She grabbed the remote and switched the channel to something more suitable.

"I was watching that," Jiraiya said weakly from his place on the ground, an interestingly large lump on his head. "Tsunade-hime, give it back…" he whined, reaching for the remote.

A popped vein appeared on the female medic and, with a strained voice, she politely asked Shizune, "Girl, can you please open the window for me?"

Sharing a look with Sasuke, Shizune shrugged and did what her teacher asked. Moving swiftly, Tsunade grasped the front of Jiraiya's shirt and promptly threw him out of the window, barely avoiding the window frame.

With the window opened, Jiraiya didn't receive any injuries from colliding with the glass panel and cuts from sharp shreds of glass. This wasn't out of the kindness of Tsunade's heart. She only did this so the hotel manager wouldn't demand any repairing fee.

Giving the horrified children and teen a sweet smile, Tsunade said, "I'll be going out for awhile. Are you fine on your own?" A series of nods was the reply. "Good."

As soon as the medic left, the two boys asked Shizune, "Is she always that scary?" Later they would deny that their voice trembled.

Not sure exactly how to answer this question for Shizune had never seen her teacher behave this way to any other man. She could only shake her head slowly. "It's probably because it was Jiraiya-sama. I've heard that this kind of thing happened everyday when they were young."

Although both Naruto and Sasuke hadn't found the pleasure of naked women yet, they vowed they would never do anything such as peeping and watching porn. 'I have a feeling that Hitsuka will agree with Tsunade-obaa-chan,' Naruto thought and shuddered.

_Somewhere far away_

"AHH!!"

THUD!

"Ow…" Jiraiya groaned as every part of his body hurt like hell. "I guess I deserve that," he muttered with a weak smile. Looking left and right, he sweat-dropped. "Err… Where am I?"

A crow flew past, laughing at the white-haired man.

_At the festival_

'This is like the festivals back at my world,' Hitsuka thought, happily eating candy floss on a stick. He had been to quite a few game stalls and, with his ninja skill, had won a bagful of prizes.

"Hopefully everyone will like these prizes," he said to himself, laughing quietly. "I know I really shouldn't play so many games but I just can't stop for some weird reason."

Looking up, he saw that it was getting late. A few shops around him were already started to close up and the 'Close' sign was stuck on the door. "I should get back now…"

"Thief! Someone please help! Thief!"

Turning around, Hitsuka saw an old lady clad in a beautiful, light orange kimono on the ground where she had landed when she was knocked over. Coming towards him was a dirty-looking man with an equally dirty knife in his right hand and a small bag in another.

Sighing tiredly, Hitsuka wondered why so many things often happened to him. "Get out of my way!" the thief snarled, showing his yellow teeth while slashing at the air with his knife.

With his candy floss stick, Hitsuka blocked the knife with ease, still savouring the last bit of the delicious pink fluffy candy. He swiftly twisted his body, going past the thief and stood behind him. With a hard jab with the stick on his neck, the older man froze.

Plucking the bag out from the thief's hand, Hitsuka handed it over to the lady, now standing up with the help of a by-passer. She thanked the teenager, "Thank you very much, young lady. You were very brave."

Her voice was beautiful but it was lost on Hitsuka. "It's okay, Ma'am. But I am a boy," he said with a smile. No one noticed the corner of his left eye was twitching. They were too busy praising the courageous girl… boy.

The old lady blinked then a horrified look appeared on her face. "I'm so sorry, young man! I apologise for my mistake."

After reassuring the lady that it was fine, no offence taken and that he really should be on his way. Feeling a little depressed, Hitsuka thought, 'Even with normal clothes and short hair, I guess my face is still like a girl's. No…'

What about the thief, you might ask. Well, he was unfortunate enough to meet Hitsuka who had learnt human pressure points from two skilled masters: Hyuuga Hiashi and Hizashi. It was said that the silly man was going to spend quite a bit of time in a small room with a not-working toilet.

The old lady, now with her bag safely tugged in the crook of her arm, walked towards where she was staying. 'Such a nice girl, err… boy,' she thought, stumbling over the teen's gender. "Ah!" she gasped softly. "I forgot to ask for his name!"

_At the hotel_

Arriving in front of the door, Hitsuka popped back to his young self and walked into his hotel room. "Don't shut the door!" Blinking, the boy twirled around to see Jiraiya limping towards him.

"Jiraiya-sama, what happened to you?" the small boy asked, worried that they might be under attack of some sort.

Jiraiya gave Hitsuka a weak smile and replied, "Let's say Tsunade-hime's PMS has arrived."

Giving the man a concern look, Hitsuka shuddered. "I so don't want to be in your shoes right now."

"Why's that?"

"Because Tsunade-sama is standing right behind you."

Jiraiya spun around and came face to face with something that was worse than his worst nightmare (AN: Did that make sense?). "I-I can explain," the white-haired man stuttered out, holding his hands up in front of as if to protect himself. "P-Please li-listen!"

Growling like an animal would, Tsunade slowly shortened the distance between her and her prey with two large strides. "How dare you…" she snarled. "How dare you!"

Being the cheeky bastard that he was, Jiraiya couldn't stop himself from putting in his say. "How dare I what?"

With an angry roar, Tsunade practically flew to stand in front of the foolish man. Grabbing the front of his shirt (again) with a strong hand, she bellowed into his face, "How dare you say such THING about ME! And to a KID as well!"

Waiting for no reply, she proceeded to beat the day-light and the moon-light out from this poor, poor man. Still thinking rationally, she held back enough force in her last punch so there would be no one demanding repairing fee from her. She didn't have much left anyway for she had lost quite a few zeros in the local gambling den.

'I'm flying,' Jiraiya thought as his body formed a perfect arc in the air. But what went up must come down as the law of gravity said. 'I'm flying-'

THUMP.

'Not anymore…' the evil part of his conscience snickered.

"Ignore the fool. Let's go in," Tsunade said with a huff, directing Hitsuka into the room.

"Wait…" Jiraiya groaned, his hand stretched in front of him towards the pair. "Wait…"

The door closed in his face.

_In the room_

"Was that… really necessary?" Hitsuka asked timidly, putting down his bag in front of the two eager children.

Tsunade, who had thrown herself on to the couch, nodded. "Don't worry about him. We were always like this when we were young," she said, waving her hand.

"I was right," Shizune whispered quietly to the other two boys.

Shrugging slightly, Hitsuka turned to find something to do.

_After awhile_

Jiraiya painfully twisted the door handle only to find the door locked. Cursing under his breath, he leaned against the door to gather some strength. He had spent all that time to crawl to the door and now he was still outside because SOMEONE had locked the door. "All well, nothing can be worst now," he muttered. He jinxed it.

"I'll just check on Jiraiya-sama," a voice said behind him and his support was gone. Falling backwards, he prayed that whoever opened the door would be so kind to catch him. But no such luck.

The back of his head kissed the hard ground like a mother kissing tenderly on her child's cheek, just… with some force. 'I'm glad that I'm a trained shinobi. Otherwise, I'll be dead a long time ago in the hands of Tsunade-hime,' he absently thought.

The person who opened the door was smart enough to leap away before his toes were crushed by Jiraiya's thick skull. It was Hitsuka.

"Jiraiya-sama!" Hitsuka gasped when he realised that he might've cause the man to have brain damage. He knelt down beside man and started to check. "Are you okay?"

Waving a hand to reassure the worry boy, Jiraiya got into a sitting position. "Don't worry, I had worst than this," he said, messing the boy's hair up.

Heaving out a sigh, Hitsuka started to heal the man. "Don't forget that we have to talk to Tsunade-sama tonight. I know you didn't do it yet when I was unconscious," he said with a small frown and Jiraiya gave a carefree grin.

"You know me too well," the white-haired man said teasingly. Looking around, he discovered that the children were missing. "Where are the kids?"

"Sleeping like logs."

Several cuts and bruises and some broken bones later, Jiraiya was good as new. Whistling, Tsunade was very impressed. "You're very good for your age, brat," she praised, her hands itching to hurt the now injury-free man.

"Thank you," Hitsuka said, happy that the best medic-nin had praised him.

Looking serious, Jiraiya said, "Tsunade, we must have a talk about the reason why we were searching for you."

Looking anywhere but the man in front her, Tsunade replied, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Seeing that Jiraiya was going to yell something rude. Hitsuka cut in, "Tsunade-sama, you are needed back in Konoha for you medic skills. Uchiha-sama, that's Sasuke's father, is in a coma, a result from being placed under the powerful Mangekyou Sharingan."

"That's none of my business. Why are you here anyway? Shouldn't you be sleeping like other kids?" Tsunade said gruffly, unhappy that someone was telling her to go back there!

Looking a bit uncomfortable, Hitsuka looked at Jiraiya, asking the man silently if he should spill the secret. Jiraiya nodded and Hitsuka sighed. 'This is the third time me telling this whole travelling through dimension thing. Maybe I should record the whole conversation to save me some trouble,' he thought tiredly and started once again, from the beginning.

'Let's hope she'll believe me…'

_A long time later_

"… And let was how we know where to start searching for you," Hitsuka ended, finally finishing his story.

For a few minutes, no one made an attempt to speak or move. The two white-haired held their breath for Tsunade's response. Taking a deep breath, Tsunade finally said…

"Are you crazy?"

Expecting this answer every time he told his life story, Hitsuka wasn't surprised. Jiraiya was though. "What do you mean!? I trust this brat and, heck! Even sensei trusts him as well," he exploded, remembering just in time to keep his voice down.

"Remember what happened last time when the person we all trusted turned out to be?" Tsunade snapped. This shut the man up.

"It was Orochimaru, wasn't it?" Hitsuka said softly, knowing fully well that he was right.

Whipping around, Tsunade stared at the boy. "How did you know," she asked, her voice dangerously low. "Did Jiraiya or sensei tell you? If they did, I'm so gonna-"

"No one told me."

"If you're saying you know because of all that other world crap, I'll personally give you a mental check-up," the medic growled, cracking her knuckles. "And I promise it'll be rather painful."

'Sheesh, getting all worked up just because I mentioned the taboo word,' Hitsuka thought, mentally rolling his eyes. "What must I do to make you believe me? Others are open-minded enough to trust me," he said, spreading his arms to ask God for help? Or a show of innocence.

"May be if you tell her what you know about her, something that only she knows," Jiraiya suggested. Tsunade snorted, mocking them.

Frowning in concentration, Hitsuka said, "I'm not sure… Your past didn't exactly take a huge part in the story." Turning to look into Tsunade's brown eyes, he continued, "I know about Nawaki-san, your brother, and Dan-san, your boyfriend. You believe that they died because of the curse on the First Hokage's necklace."

Her brows tangled in denial and sadness, Tsunade broke the eye contact and whispered, "That's common knowledge. You can't prove anything with that."

Growling in frustration, Jiraiya started to tear his hair out. "You are too stubborn for you own good!"

'I agree…' Hitsuka thought, readied to give up. May be he could somehow knock the woman unconscious and drag her back to Konoha… Yup, he would do that after he had contacted the funeral service and arranged his will. 'Wait! The seal on her forehead! She gotta trust me with this one!'

"Does Jiraiya-sama know about the seal on your forehead?"

"WHAT!" the two adults yelled at the same time, one in confusion and one in disbelief.

"How… How do you know about it?" Tsunade asked. She was certain that she had never told anyone about her seal, not even Shizune! She had planned to tell the little girl when she was older. But this kid, teenager, whatever, already knew about it.

"Please answer my question," Hitsuka requested, starting to get a little annoyed. "Can't you see I'm trying to prove myself?"

Being the hot-headed that she was (not as much as Naruto though), Tsunade was readied to say something biting if Jiraiya hadn't answer in her place. "No, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Giving a happy smile, Hitsuka asked if Tsunade minded him telling Jiraiya about it. Receiving a head shake, he started to tell the adults what he knew about this particular seal. "This seal is called Ninpou-Souzousaisei (Ninpou-Genesis Rebirth) which was created by Tsunade-sama. It basically does what its name means. By gathering chakra for some time on Tsunade-sama's forehead, this chakra can be used to reconstruct and damaged parts and organs of her body by quickening the process of multiplying human cells.

"I can go into details but I won't because it's quite confusing. Basically, it regenerates, not heal. The only down side is that Tsunade-sama is shortening her life span when she release this seal," he finished softly.

Tsunade was extremely shocked to know that someone other than her knew the seal so well. 'He even knows that it doesn't heal but regenerates,' she thought, biting her bottom lip.

"Tsunade-sama, is it really that bad going back to the place you were born in?" Hitsuka asked quietly, his face emotionless. "Is it?"

Looking angrily at the boy in front of her, she gritted out, "You don't understand anything. That place… Two people I loved the most spent their whole life to protect it and now they're dead."

Hitsuka looked down, his face in the shadows. "I understand…" he whispered then suddenly stood up and left the room in a hurry.

"Heh! We're not finished!" Tsunade cried out, reaching forward to grab the sleeve of the black kimono. Jiraiya stopped her.

"Have you got no compassion!" the man hissed. The door closed with a click. "None of the boy's family is still alive!"

Tsunade stopped struggling and gave Jiraiya a wide-eye look. "What did you say?" she asked after a moment of silence.

Jiraiya let go of the woman and sat down with a sigh. "Both of his parents have passed away a long time ago and you heard him yesterday, his brother died in front of his eyes."

"Bu-But he looked so happy this afternoon! He can't possible…" Tsunade muttered, more to herself than to Jiraiya. 'How can he be so happy now? Why isn't he like me? Why?'

_Somewhere on top of a roof_

"Why did I run…" Hitsuka muttered to himself quietly. After he ran out of the hotel, he instantly hid his presence and sprinted down the street. Awhile later, he found himself on top of a random roof. 'I shouldn't have such a big reaction! But… Stupid bad memories,' he thought with a childish pout.

**So this is why you're so much different from other kids… **A deep rumbling voice said in Hitsuka's mind, causing the boy to squeak in surprise.

'OMG! Is that you, father?' Hitsuka half-screamed in his mind. 'What are you doing here!? No, wait! How can you possibly be in my mind?'

**I guess the whole chakra fusion thing works both ways, **Kyuubi mused.

A small smile twisted on Hitsuka's lips as he thought to his father, 'This may sound weird, but I'm coming in.'

**What the!? **Kyuubi exclaimed and tripped over one of his many tails when his kit suddenly appeared in front of him. That caused Hitsuka to laugh uncontrollably.

With a growl, Kyuubi leapt onto the boy and proceeded to lick the boy to his death from laughing. "Stop that!" Hitsuka laughed. "That tickles!"

-What all that noise?- Shion said, walking into the newly formed room while rubbing his eyes sleepily. Apparently, spirits needed sleep as well.

After brushing his black fringe out of his eyes, Shion stopped dead in his track when he saw the fox on top of his brother. Was it because Kyuubi, an anime character, was the new lodger in his brother's head? Or was it because Kyuubi was currently in the size of a puppy and had his fur all fluffed by Hitsuka?

-Ohh! How CUTE!- Shion gave an almost girly-like squeal before launching himself towards the cute, fluffy fox. So it was the second choice.

**I'm so not CUTE,** Kyuubi said, horrified that someone would describe him as that out of all things. **Let go of me! Help! Who's this mad man?**

"This… is my brother, Yuki Shion," Hitsuka said with a puff as he was, too, trying to get out of his brother's deadly embrace. "He absolutely… loves… cute stuffs, especially small and fluffy ones… although he always… denies it."

**I'm NOT CUTE!**

So after approximately thirty minutes later (although the time outside did not budge for even one spilt-second), Shion finally let the duo go. This was the reason why Hitsuka tended to only talk to Shion mind-to-mind instead of going into his mind even though that way time wouldn't change.

After Hitsuka conjured up two chairs for him and his brother and a small stool for Kyuubi (it was his mind), they sat down to talk for a bit. "I'll introduce you guys again. Father, this is Yuki Shion. Shi-chan, this is Kyuubi no Kitsune."

-Hello,- Shion said, a bit too happy. Kyuubi gave a low growl, still remembering what happened before.

**Why are you here in kit's head? Are you sealed inside him? **Kyuubi asked, unconsciously wrapping his white-haired kit with one of his rather fluffy tail protectively.

Shion had to fight the urge to do some more hugging. He feared that he might get tear into many small pieces. Even though he wouldn't die, it would still take quite awhile to gather every piece of himself back. With a shrug, he answered, -No… I just suddenly appeared inside Hitsuka's head when I died. It's quite weird but I am able to watch out for my kid brother at any time.-

**Hmm…**

Shion's left eyebrow twitched when he saw how Kyuubi was still very protective of HIS brother. -Come on! I am his brother and have looked out for him for the last nineteen years: ten being alive and nine being dead. So stop looking at me with suspicious eyes!-

Kyuubi looked a bit startled at Shion's forwardness. **I didn't mean anything by this…** he muttered. **Wait, I didn't know you're nineteen!**

"Well, I am!" Hitsuka said with a small grin. Hitsuka was indeed a nineteen-year-old, now legally an adult. But he still didn't think he was that old, especially when his body was still only a six-year-old one. Being in the new world and with all that new things to learn, one could say that Hitsuka was mature for his looks but still childish for his age.

"So now you know where exactly I'm from," Hitsuka said to his father. "I didn't mean to put the explanation off for so long but we had never really found the time to do it."

**Well, at least you don't have to explain it for the third time, **Kyuubi replied, licking his front paw.

"Actually, it would be the fourth."

**Eh!? How many people actually know your secret?**

"Well, there's Hokage-sama, Jiraiya-sama and Tsunade-sama of course," Hitsuka murmured, ticking his fingers off at each name. "Err… the Hyuuga brothers and…"

-Uchiha Itachi,- Shion put in helpfully.

"Oh yeah! There's Itachi-nii-san too."

**So many people!** Kyuubi was quite amazed by the amount of people.

They talked for awhile after that with Kyuubi and Shion getting familiar with each other. Both were quite protective of the young white-haired boy.

"I should go out now," Hitsuka said, standing up and dusting invisible dust off his kimono. "I had a long day and I want to get some sleep."

-Careful on the way back,- Shion said, giving his brother an affection ruffle on the head.

**If that woman gives you any trouble, just ignore her,** Kyuubi said, giving his kit a lick on the face.

"Bye!" Hitsuka called out, a smile on his face.

_Back to the outside world_

Leaning back on his arms, Hitsuka looked up at the twinkling stars above his head. "So beautiful," he murmured. Feeling what could only be described as loose, he fell to notice a presence coming towards him.

"Here you are," Tsunade half-snarled, half-spoke when she landed softly on the roof Hitsuka was on. "I've looking all over for you."

Giving no indication that he was startled, Hitsuka tilt his head back and asked, "Why were you looking for me?"

Taking her time in answering the question, Tsunade slow sank down to a sitting position. After a moment of silence, she replied, "I need some answers."

"For what?"

"Why you can still be happy now."

Frowning, Hitsuka turned his body to face Tsunade and the medic had to hold in a gasp. If she didn't believe the boy's story before, she had to now from the look he was giving her. "Why can't I?" the boy asked instead of answering.

With an annoyed sigh, Tsunade nearly snapped at the boy, "Because you've lost so many love ones!"

Right now, Hitsuka wasn't sure whether he should be angry at Tsunade's bluntness or be sad at the rush of bad memories. 'No, I've made a promise to myself that I will never drown myself in bad memories,' he thought with a firm shake of his head. 'I have no intention in breaking that promise.'

"Tsunade-sama…" he said quietly, giving Tsunade a soft look. "It's because now I remember them by thinking of the good times we had." Here he shrugged. "And I have Naruto to look after too. That often took so much out of me I hardly had any energy left to think of anything else."

"Bu-But!" Tsunade stammered even though she wasn't sure what she wanted to say.

"If you immerse yourself with thoughts of the past, the world will move on without you," Hitsuka said wisely though where this had came from he had no idea. He reached out with his small hands and touched Tsunade's face. "Tsunade-sama, neither Dan-san nor Nawaki-san wishes you to be like this now. I'm sure they want you to be happy."

"How would you know?" Tsunade muttered, trying to be scornful but didn't have the energy to do so. 'I can't, anyway, not when Hitsuka look at me like that.'

Smiling, Hitsuka replied, "Because that's what I'll want for my love ones if I'm dead."

That wormed a laugh out from Tsunade but soon her laughter changed into out of control sobs. Leaning against Hitsuka's small shoulders, she finally let out her closed up emotion and tears after all these years.

Jiraiya listened quietly to the woman's anguish cry as he leaned his head back against the wall in the shadows. 'Thank you, Hitsuka…'

_In the morning_

"We're leaving for Konoha," Tsunade suddenly announced during breakfast. There was a wide selection of reactions. Jiraiya choked on his rice. Sasuke froze up with his mouth still open and his chopsticks half-way to their destination. Shizune was stuttering, "What!? Ho-How? Why? I-I thought…" Naruto could be, by far, had the funniest reaction. He sprayed his mouthful of milk across the table… to where Hitsuka was sitting.

With his chopsticks held tightly between his lips and his bowl of rice in one hand and plate of food in another, Hitsuka leapt up and balanced on the back of his chair. "Wah! I'm sorry," Naruto exclaimed, hopping up to grab a towel.

Since Hitsuka had kind of guessed what Tsunade's next destination would be after what happened last night, he continued eating his breakfast, practicing his balance at the same time.

"Why? Tsunade-sama. I thought you didn't like Konoha," Shizune asked, finally stopped stuttering.

Waving a hand dismissingly, Tsunade replied, "Who cares about that right now. Someone needs me back there."

Upon hearing this, Sasuke jumped up and bowed formally at the medic-nin. "Thank you," he said gratefully.

With their mission accomplished, the group packed their things and left the town just after lunch. Tracking down the path at a walking-pace, Jiraiya estimated out loud that they would be back home before dinner.

With everyone was happy, Hitsuka was troubled by the events that happened lately. 'Because we shifted the time of finding Tsunade-sama quite a few years early, everything is going to change. A lot. Especially the part where Naruto wins the bet and receive that necklace,' he thought, frowning in concentration. Sighing tiredly and his head started to spin, he shrugged, 'All well, I'll just go with the flow.'

It was then that Tsunade suddenly asked, "Hey, brat, do you want to be the Hokage?" The question was directed at Naruto.

Nodding his head up and down hard, Naruto shout, "Hell YEAH! Hokage is my dream." Hitsuka wondered if his ear drums had popped by the loud noise.

The reason why Tsunade had asked this question was because she was wondering what Hitsuka had seen in this blond child that he would give up his life for. Now looking into Naruto's eyes, she believed she had also seen the future of Konoha that Hitsuka had been crying out before. "Hn… A brat like you will never be able to become Hokage," she said with a smirk.

"Oh yeah? Watch me," Naruto once again yelled, raising his fists and charged at Tsunade.

Using only one finger, Tsunade flicked the boy on the forehead causing him to land on his butt. "Oww…"

"Listen, brat. I'll make a bet with you. If you can prove that you can become a good Hokage, I'll give you this necklace," the medic-nin said, pointing towards the said item.

"I don't want that kind of ugly neck-" Naruto yelled, but before he could finish, Hitsuka's hands were over his mouth.

"Don't say that, Naruto," Hitsuka said. "That necklace is made with a precious ore that belonged to the First Hokage. If you sold it, you could buy three mountains."

"Really! Wow!" Naruto cried out, truly surprised. "Alright! I will get it!"

Tsunade was shocked that Hitsuka knew the history behind her necklace before she remembered the boy's own history. A light bulb lit on top her head. "Hitsuka, do you want to be my apprentice?"

Hitsuka's figure froze. Slowly and a bit jerkily, he turned his head and stared at the medic with wide eyes. "WHAT!" he exclaimed, shocked. "Did you just say what I think you just said!?"

Running this sentence through her mind first before nodding her head. "Yes, I did just say what you thought I said."

The others were lost.

"Of course!" Hitsuka said excitedly. He couldn't believe his luck. This woman, Konoha's best medic, had offered to take him as her apprentice! Of course he would do it. "Thank you very much."

True to Jiraiya's words, they arrived in front of Konoha gates before dinner. Knowing that a patient was waiting for her in the hospital, Tsunade immediately went there via roof top. "Wait for me! Tsunade-sama!" Shizune cried alarmingly, following her teacher.

"I have to go and get my mother!" Sasuke said, sprinting off to his home with a backward glance.

Scratching his chin, Jiraiya hopped on to a roof, saying, "I have to go and give sensei the mission report." Then he left, leaving the two boys alone.

Blinking in surprise at how others disappeared, Hitsuka once again shrugged. Putting on a smile, he said to Naruto, "Let's go for some Ramen at the Ichiraku." This was met with enthusiastic shouts.

"YAY! GO ICHIRAKU! GO RAMEN!"

As Naruto raced ahead, Hitsuka sweat-dropped. 'Right…'

There was a happy ending at the end of the week. Uchiha Fugaku was woken up from his long sleep by the great medic-nin Tsunade. The usual strict man gave a rare show of emotion when he heard what happened after he fell into coma by burying his face into his two remaining family. Tsunade had quickly left the room, leaving the family in private.

The Third was happy that everyone was now safe and that he finally had his only female student back in Konoha, willingly. Jiraiya was happy too for there was a newly opened bathhouse in the village. Hitsuka was just glad that he could finally have a good sleep.

_Six years later_

'Six years… It feels like it was only yesterday Tsunade-sama came back to Konoha,' Hitsuka thought, now a twelve-year-old, somewhere between a kid and a teenager.

It was no wonder that the boy felt that way, because for six years, nothing major had happened both inside and outside of Konoha. All according to the timeline that he had drew up in his mind with only a few minor changes.

For example, Hitsuka and Naruto had moved out of their old apartment. That apartment was fine for one person or two small kids to live in. But as the two boys starting to grow, both came to the stage of wanting to have some privacy and secrets. So Hitsuka went and found the perfect place for them. It was in fact quite close to Ramen Ichiraku much to Naruto's delight.

Their new apartment was pretty much the same to their old one. Their kitchen, living room and dining room were all still in one space, a toilet and a bathroom. The difference was that they both had their own room and bed to themselves. They agreed that they had to ask for permission before they could enter each other's room.

Their room were very different from each other's. Naruto's room consisted of a single bed, a small desk he rarely used, a wardrobe and a book shelf with lots of random things with only a few books in sight. Because it was his own room he had to clean it up himself but he was doing a pretty bad job. Hitsuka didn't object too much as long there weren't any weird smell.

The white-haired boy's room was quite similar, a bed, a wardrobe, a desk but with the exception of not one, but three book shelves, all full with nothing else but books. It was his own mini library. Although his room might look a bit crowded but at least it was better than Naruto's messy one.

They both continued to train hard with their weights needed to be increased almost every fortnight. While Naruto was more to the physical side of training, Hitsuka was often seen with his nose stuck in a book. It wasn't that Naruto was stupid and Hitsuka only knew theories; it was that they had different ways of approaching a new jutsu. Naruto would practice until he either had nearly no chakra left or when he finally got the hang of the jutsu. Hitsuka would try to know everything that there was to know about the jutsu before practicing.

Both boys would train together with their friends but because of the huge difference between their learning techniques, they had decided that they should train by themselves for the majority of time. Besides, they needed to keep some jutsu as their secret attacks.

As for the other residents of Konoha. Tsunade and Shizune had stayed to help out with other medic-nin with the now young woman still studying under her master. Tsunade was happy with both of apprentices' improvement even though she had to teach them separate things for Hitsuka was still not quite up to Shizune's standard.

Nothing much had changed in the Hyuuga household, everyone but Hinata was still quite the same. Hinata had change a lot under Naruto and Neji's influence. She no longer stuttered but still kept some of her shyness. Somehow, that shyness would disappear when the Prankster Trio were keeping up their reputation.

In the Uchiha household, Uchiha Fugaku had changed the most after what happened six years ago. He had drilled into everyone's mind to trust their great leader, Hokage. He personally saw to everyone that was a shinobi or a shinobi-wannabe to train to their fullness. As the leader of Uchiha, he learnt the lesson of never underestimate your opponent the hard way. Sasuke missed his brother terribly and was over the moon by the rare occasions of receiving a brief letter from Itachi.

Back to the present, Naruto had just finished school and was toeing his shoes off at the door. "I'm home!" he yelled cheerfully.

"Naruto, please come here."

Upon hearing his name without the usual cheerfulness, Naruto began to fear for the worst. 'Hitsuka only calls me that seriously when he's pissed off by something I've done. Should I run?' his mind frantically thought, knowing that no matter how fast he ran, he could never escape from the other boy's wrath.

Trudging reluctantly to the dining table, he sat down opposite to the tight-lipped Hitsuka. "Yes?" he asked timidly, peering through his fringes. Although Naruto could be the shortest kid in his class, 

Hitsuka was in fact shorter than his 145.3 cm height by only 2 cm. But now, looking intimidating, Hitsuka seemed to be towering over him.

Pushing something forward on the table with his forefinger, Hitsuka asked, "Care to explain your report?"

Seeing this innocent bit of paper, Naruto began to sweat. For the last few semesters, Naruto had been lying to Hitsuka. He had been the dead-last of the class but he always changed the reports before giving them to Hitsuka. But knowing Hitsuka, he would definitely found something fishy about the reports. Staring at the correct report in front of him, he stuttered, "I-I can explain!"

Hitsuka lifted an eyebrow which added more pressure on Naruto. With a sigh, Hitsuka let go of his intimidating look. "Look at me, Naruto," he said softly but the blond child was still avoiding his eyes in shame. "Look at me."

Slowly lifting his head to look at the other boy, Naruto muttered, "I'm sorry." It pained him to see his most precious person shaking his head in disappointment.

"I don't care if you're last or anything and I know you won't do anything without a good reason, but you really shouldn't lie," Hitsuka scolded. He had been happy at how Naruto was the number one of the class with Sasuke at the end of every semester. But lately, he began to notice a few small changes on the reports. Like how Iruka-sensei never use that shade of black ink for he always used the same brand of pens. So he had gone to the academy and went straight to Iruka. Both man and child were shocked to know that the seemly innocent child had been lying for months.

Blushing in embarrassment, the reasons for doing this crime came flowing out of Naruto's mouth. "You know how each genin team is arranged so that every team has the same strength. So the last will go with the first and the average will go together, right? Sasuke and I want to be on the same team but as long we are both the first of class, it'll be impossible."

Catching on to what Naruto and Sasuke were doing, Hitsuka understood the reasons after the first two sentences but he let Naruto continued. "Since Sasuke is an Uchiha he has a reputation to maintain so I had to be the one with bad grades. Do you know how hard it is to make sure you always end up last in the class? It's easier to be the first," Naruto suddenly complained.

Hitsuka couldn't help himself but cracked up laughing. Looking flabbergasted, Naruto had no idea why Hitsuka was laughing. "You should've just come and explain to me at the very start. You didn't to go through all that trouble making up those reports," Hitsuka clarified when he finally stopped giggling.

"So you're not mad?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"No."

This wasn't, "No, I'm not angry anymore." It was, "No, I am still mad."

"I'm still mad because no matter what the reasons were, you still shouldn't have lied," Hitsuka explained. "That's why I'm forbidding you from eating ramen for a week."

"WHAT!? NO…"

_The day of genin exam_

It was the big day for all the senior academy students: the graduation exam. This exam was divided up into three parts: theory, accuracy and jutsu. Naruto was confident that he would pass, aiming not for the first but last.

"Good luck!" Hitsuka said as Naruto raced past the academy gates.

"Don't need it!"

Chuckling at this reply, Hitsuka walked home, wondering what Mizuki, the evil sensei, would do now that Naruto definitely would pass the exam. 'Maybe he won't use Naruto to get the Scroll of the Forbidden Seals? That'll be bad for Naruto actually really needs to know Kage Bunshin no Jutsu…' he thought then heaved out a mushroom-sigh. 'All well, I'll just go and warn Hokage-sama about this.'

_In the exam_

Although Naruto knew all the answers in the theory exam, he still only put down enough correct answers to scrape a pass. Calculating the minimum correct answers took most of the time anyway.

As for the accuracy which was throwing ten kunai at a stationary target. He got five out of ten, carefully avoiding bull's eye every time. Obviously, five was the minimum requirement to pass.

Finally it was the last section of the exam: jutsu. The students were required to perform Bunshin no Jutsu. With bad chakra control, Naruto made three barely passable Bunshin.

With a sigh, Iruka quickly hid his disappointment for Naruto's bad performance and plastered a smile on his face. "Naruto, congratulation. You're now officially a genin." He handed a Leaf head protector to the over-excited child.

With a shout of triumph, Naruto jumped and punched the air with a fist. "Wait until Hitsuka hears this!" he yelled. Dead-last or no dead-last, he still had passed. Racing out to find both Hitsuka and Sasuke waiting for him, he gave them a thumb up.

Sasuke, who had, of course, passed with flying colours, grinned. Hitsuka smiled and gave Naruto a pat on the head. "Good job, Naruto," he praised.

"Sasuke-chan!" Mikoto, Sasuke's mother, called out. "Come over here."

"I'll see you guys tomorrow then," Sasuke said, running off towards his mother. "Mum! Don't call me that!"

Both boys laughed when they heard Sasuke said this. It was then, someone unexpected walked up to them. "Naruto…" It was Mizuki.

"Mizuki-sensei!" Naruto was somewhat shocked that this teacher approached him. Other than the teacher-student relationship they had, they really never held a conversation before. "What can I do for you?"

"Who's this?" Mizuki asked instead of answering Naruto's question. It was understandable that this man didn't know Hitsuka for the kid had left the academy before he came to teach.

"I'm Hitsuka, Naruto's guardian of some-sort," Hitsuka answered while wondering what this guy was up to. 'Naruto is a genin now, so what reason will he use to lure Naruto to go and 'borrow' the Scroll of the Forbidden Seals?'

"Naruto, I noticed you didn't do too well in your exam," Mizuki said, suddenly switching his attention back to the blond kid.

"But I've passed so who cares about it," Naruto replied, hands reaching back so he could rest his head on them.

Being persistent, Mizuki asked, "But don't you wish that you could've done better?"

Naruto was about to reply "No, I wouldn't," for if he had done better, all his hard work in being the dead-last would be nothing, when Hitsuka nodded his head. "Yes, I had hoped that he could've done better," he said.

Naruto was confused to why Hitsuka said that but kept his mouth shout anyway. Looking delighted, Mizuki instantly suggested, "I know what Naruto can do to increase his grade."

"Really! That's great!" Hitsuka said with hidden sarcasm. 'I sure can act.'

_Later in Hokage's house_

"Hitsuka, can you find it?" Naruto whispered, still searching his half of the shelves. 'Why does this old coot have so any shelves for anyway!'

Already knew where the scroll was for the Third had shown him earlier that day, Hitsuka pretended that he didn't see the particular large scroll above Naruto's head. "Nope."

"OMG! Where is it!?" Naruto cried, throwing his hands above his head and accidentally brushed the edge of the wanted scroll. Being the cylinder shape that it was, the scroll began to roll. Not wanting to 

create a loud noise, Naruto dived to catch it before it landed on the floor. With a loud 'thump' it landed on the top of his head instead. "Ow…"

Holding in his laughter, Hitsuka lifted the scroll off and patted the other child on the head. "Are you okay?"

"No…" Naruto whined and stared at the scroll in Hitsuka's hands. "Heh! That's it!"

Finally found what they wanted, they left through a window. Naruto didn't notice Hitsuka giving a signal to someone that was hiding in shadows. It was the Third who was lucky enough to escape Naruto's new jutsu, Orioke no Jutsu (Sexy no Jutsu). 'Okay, now I'll just have to wait until Mizuki 'warns' someone about this,' the old man thought.

Eager to learn new jutsu, Naruto ran a bit faster than usual to the bit of forest Mizuki told he and Hitsuka about. He had asked why not go to their own secret training ground but Hitsuka had flatly disagreed. 'All well, it doesn't matter,' he thought as they landed softly on the forest ground.

Quickly opened the scroll, Naruto scanned through the first jutsu on it. "Oh man! Why does it have to be a Bunshin no Jutsu? That's my worst jutsu," he groaned out loud but prepared himself to do the jutsu anyway. He was not the type to back down from a challenge.

Hitsuka hid his smile at this. Looking at Naruto, he thought the boy had really grown up. 'Thank goodness that he's not wearing that bright orange tracksuit,' Hitsuka thought, shuddering a bit at the rather bright mental image. 'That tracksuit practically screams, "Kill me! I want to die!"'

Naruto's orange T-shirt and black shorts were gone for he was now wearing the new outfit that they had bought yesterday as an early graduation present. The two boys had argued in the cloth shop about what he should wear. He was all for orange when the white-haired boy put his foot down, totally against the colour. At the end, they came to an agreement. He was now wearing a black tracksuit with stripes of orange lining the edge and the seams. Hitsuka even sew an orange-red spiral on the back of the jacket.

Hitsuka, too, had changed his outfit. Decided that the kimono wasn't really helping him to look more like a boy, he found something that was kind of, but not really, traditional. (AN: I am very bad at describing things, especially clothing so I'll apologize now.) The rich moss green top looked a bit like the top part of the kimono without an obi. It was tied together with small pieces of strings on the bottom right corner. With pair of three-quarter pant in the same shade of green and comfortable slippers-like shoe later, the boy definitely looked different. The only thing that stayed was his hair which he usually wore in a braid.

Knowing how useful Kage Bunshin no Jutsu would be, Hitsuka peered over Naruto's shoulder to have look. 'This does look quite complicated,' he thought.

_Back in the village_

'Naruto has passed, that's good. But why is his grade getting worse?' Iruka thought, lying on his bed. Thinking the similarity between him and the blond child, he couldn't help but let his mind gone back to the night Kyuubi attacked.

"_We have to hold on until the Fourth gets here!" _

"_Let go of me! My mum and dad are still fighting!"_

"_MUM! DAD!"_

His thought was suddenly interrupted by someone knocking hard on his door. Getting up slowly, taking this time to bury thoughts of his past deeper inside his mind. "What is it?" he asked a panicking Mizuki when he opened the door. 'I hope it's not about Naruto…'

"We must go to Hokage-sama's place," Mizuki yelled and several windows around them opened to hear the urgent news. "Naruto has… taken the Scroll of the Forbidden Seals as a joke! Hitsuka is in this too!"

'WHAT!' Iruka mentally yelled. He knew that neither boys would do such a crime but Mizuki was not the type of person to accuse anyone of a crime this big. Following the other man to the meeting place, he made up his mind to get to the bottom of this.

"They won't get away with this! Hokage-sama!" several people yelled at the same time. Obviously those people didn't exactly like Naruto. A few shouts of "Yeah!" came through. Everyone was tensed, afraid what 'Kyuubi' would do.

With a sigh, the Third said wearily, "Yes, those are dangerous jutsu that were forbidden by the previous Hokage. If used in certain ways, they can cause incredible troubles." Looking around him, he issued the command, "It's been half a day since the scroll has been taken. We must hurry and find Naruto and Hitsuka!"

As soon as the command left their leader's mouth, all the ninja presented scattered to do their duty. "YES SIR!"

Breathing hard from his mad dash, Iruka thought to himself, 'I should check the woods. That's where Naruto and Hitsuka usually train.'

Thinking that the place he told the two boys was hidden very well, Mizuki was in no hurry to retrieve the scroll. 'I'll spread the word throughout the village a little more then I'll get rid of Naruto and Hitsuka,' he thought evilly. 'I'll make it look like the two boys disappeared with the scroll!'

_In the forest_

Both boys were panting in exhaustion when Iruka found them. "I've found you… Hey!" Iruka gasped out, him too, on the verge of dropping in fatigue.

"Oh! I found the nose bleeder!" Naruto yelled jumping to his feet. He was referring to the incident few days ago when his used Orioke no Jutsu on the unsuspecting teacher. As a punishment, he had to clean up the blood on the floor and the ceiling.

Hitsuka giggled. 'Something never changes.'

Bring out his monstrous huge head, Iruka yelled back, "IDIOT! I found YOU!" Taking a big breath and let it go to calm his rage, he noticed for the first time that he boys looked worn out.

Scratching the back of his head, Naruto laughed, "You've found me and I was only able to learn one jutsu."

"You two look all beaten up! What were you doing?" Iruka asked gruffly but one could hear the concerned tone underneath.

"Never mind that." Hitsuka waved his hand as if to wave aside the question.

"Hey! Can I show you this cool new jutsu that I've learnt?" Naruto said, jumping into a position to start the jutsu. Not trying to increase his grade as Mizuki had implied, he was merely trying to show one of his precious people what he knew.

Iruka was surprised. 'So… you two were practicing here? Enough to damage your body this badly,' he thought, glad that the two boys didn't have any evil intention. Seeing the scroll on the blond child's back, he asked, "Naruto…"

"Yes?" Naruto looked up. Somewhere beside him, Hitsuka stood up, dusting his backside in a vain attempt to get rid of dirt. He had sensed that someone would soon join them.

"Where did you get that scroll on your back?"

"Oh this?" Naruto threw a glance at the bulky thing on his back. "Mizuki-sensei told us about it and about this place too. He said that if I show you this jutsu, I can increase my grade." He then quickly added, "Not that I want to. Increase my grade, that is."

'Mizuki?' Iruka was shocked that this name came up. Sensing killing intent, he quickly pushed Naruto out of the way of several kunai but was too tired to move himself. He braced himself for the pain that was about to come but didn't feel any. He opened his eyes slowly and found Hitsuka standing in front of him, a few kunai in his hands.

Like Iruka, Mizuki was astonished that this kid could stop his attack so easily. He quickly composed himself to sneer down at the trio from his place on the tree. "Nice job in finding those two," he complimented Iruka sarcastically.

"I see… so this is what's going on," Iruka said as he finally understood everything. Both two boys were silent.

Ignoring Iruka in favour of Naruto, Mizuki commanded, "Naruto, give me the scroll!"

Iruka yelled urgently, "Naruto! Don't give him the scroll even if you die!" He could sort of see that Naruto didn't really want to die for a scroll even if it did had cool jutsu inside. The man explained, "The scroll has forbidden ninjutsus sealed with in it! Mizuki used you two in order to get his hand on it."

Naruto jumped up into a defensive position, glaring at the man on the tree who looked indifferent. While everyone was worried on different level, Hitsuka was bored. 'It's great that everything is according to manga but this makes the whole situation boring,' he thought, holding back a yawn. 'Ohh! The whole a-secret-must-not-be-told scene is coming.'

"Naruto, there's no point in you having it," Mizuki said, trying to be reasonable. "I'll tell you the truth."

Iruka instantly knew what Mizuki was going to say. He tried to stop the other man by yelling, "N-No! Don't!" He would've stop Mizuki physically but the distance between them was too great.

Mizuki started, he couldn't wait to see Naruto's pained face, "Twelve years ago… You know about Kyuubi, right?"

Naruto wasn't sure what the man was going to say but he had some ideas. 'Is he going to tell me what Hitsuka told me all those years ago?' he wondered, not at all worried.

"Since that incident, a new rule was created for this village. But Naruto, this rule was never meant to be told to you." Mizuki continued happily, hoping to see Naruto getting confused. He was disappointed.

'Hmm… This is new,' Naruto thought.

Mizuki started to laugh evilly. 'He sure will get shocked by this,' he thought with sadist pleasure. "The rule is that nobody is allowed to talk about the fact that you are the Demon Kitsune."

"So?"

Mizuki nearly fell off the tree in surprise and Iruka face-planted. "So it means that you are the Kyuubi no Kitsune that killed Iruka's parents and destroyed the village!" he said, desperate for some kind of reaction other than uninterested. "You were sealed by the Hokage you admired and you have been lied to by everyone! Everyone hates you! Iruka's the same, he hates you too!"

"I must disagree with you," Naruto said. He turned to Iruka and asked innocently, "Iruka-sensei, do you hate me?"

"N-No! Never!" Iruka denied, still a bit shocked at the turn of event.

"Hitsuka, do you hate me?"

Bonking Naruto on the head, Hitsuka replied, "You idiot! Of course not."

"I'm sure Neji-nii-san, Hinata-chan, Sasuke and Itachi-nii-san will say the same thing," Naruto told Mizuki with a grin. "Besides, Kyuubi is Kyuubi, we're different beings. So I didn't kill anyone."

Angered by the fact that his well-planned plan had failed him, Mizuki decided to kill everyone here. Pulling one of the two large shuriken off from his back, he spun it at high speed. "DIE!" he roared, aiming at the two boys.

"NO!" Iruka yelled, placing himself once again between the weapon and his students.

Seeing their teacher in danger, the two children reacted at once. Hitsuka crouched down and swiped Iruka's feet from underneath him and pushed the man's body against the ground.

So shocked by what Hitsuka did, Iruka did not resist. Looking up from his place on the ground, he watched as Naruto deftly caught the sharp weapon. 'Eh? Isn't Naruto supposed to be the dead-last?' he thought dumbly.

"You have to do better than this!" Naruto yelled, hurling the shuriken back, aiming for the tree branch the Mizuki was standing on. Mizuki leapt off and landed with a thump in front of the trio.

"I will kill you," Mizuki snarled then he squinted. 'One person's missing… Where's Hitsuka?'

"Behind you," Hitsuka said as if he had read the chuunin's mind. With nimble fingers, he stole Mizuki's entire stock of weapons; from the last large shuriken down to the last kunai. He danced out of the way when Mizuki took a swipe at him and was tempted to sing, "You can't catch me. Nya, nya. You can't catch me." But, of course, he didn't.

"Don't you dare harm Iruka-sensei," Naruto warned, looking menacing.

Mizuki was still confident that he would win, yelled back, "I can kill punks like you with only one shot."

"Ne, Iruka-sensei. This is what I wanted to show you," Naruto said, ignoring Mizuki as his fingers formed a cross. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

"Eh!?" Iruka exclaimed as hundreds of Naruto appeared around them.

"Wha-What's going on!" Mizuki shrieked, looking left and right. He was surrounded.

"What's wrong? Come at me," voices of Naruto echoed around them, taunting Mizuki. "Weren't you going to kill me with one shot?"

'Naruto, you…' Iruka was awed by the show of power displayed in front of him.

"Well then, I'll start things off," the thousand clones said in union, getting into fighting position.

"AHHHHHHHHH!!"

_In the village_

"Did anyone find them?" someone shouted in the group of shinobi.

"No!"

"Damn it! This is bad!" a guy yelled, scratching his head in frustration.

"They may be far away from here now!"

In the heat of panic, no one noticed Hokage approaching them. "There's nothing to worry about," the old man said with a smile on his. 'Ah… it's always good to keep people on alert.'

"Hokage-sama!?"

Taking a breath through his pipe, the Third said calmly, "They'll be back soon."

So everything worked out in the end. Mizuki was now in the prison, badly injured. Iruka didn't get hurt and understood why Naruto's grade was slipping for the boys explained to him. They celebrated Naruto's graduation with ramen at Ichiraku and everyone was happy, except for Iruka's wallet.

* * *

That's the end of this chapter. You all know what's coming up next. If you don't, go and read Naruto manga again.

Oh Yeah, REVIEW!


	17. Chapter 17

Don't throw anything nasty at me! I am sorry for not finish this chapter faster! Bye!

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

**Kyuubi talking**

-Shion talking-

* * *

Chapter seventeen

"Hey, are you sure you want to look like that?" the photographer asked uncertainly, leaning against his camera which was all set up and ready to go.

"Yeah! Yeah! Just do it!" Naruto yelled impatiently. 'And I have the damn right to be, impatient,' he thought, stopping his hand in time from rubbing his nose. After all, he didn't want to smudge his make-up after so many hours of deciding which 'face' he wanted. His face was itchy from multiple times of washing after each failure attempt and he wasn't allowed to move his face muscles, too, to prevent the dried paint from cracking.

The photographer heaved out a sigh. He was a great photographer, one of the old birds. He was often asked by Hokage-sama himself to take various important photos, such as famous people's headshots which were later put up in frames or in books. He was also often asked to take the photos of newly-made genins for their important documents in the Ninja Registration book. But this boy… he could be labelled as plain weird. With his white and red face paint and spiky blond hair, he kind of reminded the photographer the younger version of Jiraiya-sama. "Fine…" he muttered and covered himself with the black cloth. "Don't regret it. Say cheese-"

Before the old man could press the button to take the picture, Naruto was kicked outside of the camera frame by someone. "Ouch!" Naruto cried out when he landed face-first. "AH! My face! It's ruined!"

It was a white-haired teenager who suddenly launched the attack. The teen landed gracefully in front of the photographer and stood up straight. The man couldn't help but gave a small gasp. 'Sh-She's so beautiful!' he thought, white light and sparkles shone around her with flowers gently floating down. She turned and looked at him; her white hair flowed smoothly behind her.

'Amazing! So elegant! Such big, gold eyes! So…' Without his mind giving any instructions, his thumb pressed down, taking a picture of this supposed girl.

Hitsuka failed to notice the flash light went off; he was too busy telling Naruto off. "What's with the face? This photo will go into the Ninja Registration book, an important document that should be taken seriously," he told the still horrified boy.

"Bu-But it took me three hours to get the 'face' I wanted!" Naruto all but screeched. "It'll take me forever to paint another artistic face!"

Grabbing the handkerchief from his back pocket, Hitsuka scrubbed Naruto's face with a sigh. "No more 'face' as you put it. Your face is fine the way it is."

"Ow, ow, ow! Hitsuka, that hurt!" the blond boy whined, his cheeks red caused by friction.

"And put this on."

Naruto stared at his Konoha forehead-protector that was in Hitsuka's hand. "No… I don't wanna damage it before tomorrow's ceremony," he said and stubbornly turned his face away.

Hitsuka couldn't help but sighed again at the stubbornness the boy possessed. A few minutes passed with Naruto yelling and squirming, the blond boy now had his forehead-protector on.

"Now, give the man a smile and take the photo," Hitsuka said with an impatient tone, pushing a scowling Naruto in front of the camera. "I'll wait for you in Hokage-sama's office." Giving the fluster photographer a gentle smile (more lights and sparkles), he left the roof.

Naruto grumbled unhappily, "Why did he have to destroy my handsome face? It was fine!"

The man was shocked out of his daydreaming of the 'beautiful shinning smile on a pretty face framed by long, soft hair…' His eyes widened dramatically. "Wh-What do you meant by 'he'?" he asked, the image of the 'girl' crumbling in his mind.

"Eh?" Naruto voiced his confusion. "What are you talking about? Hitsuka is a boy. Of course he's a he."

'No! No! No...' the man screamed in his mind, crying his mental eyes out. 'How can he be so beautiful and graceful when he's a boy? No, this can't be true. No…'

Tapping his foot impatiently, Naruto glanced down at his watch. "Oi! Can you just take the picture and quit staring at me! It's creepy," he shouted.

The flash light went off again as the dismayed man pressed down the button without thinking anything else but 'No…'

_In the Hokage's office_

The Third looked down at the photo in his hand, Naruto's face smiled back at him. "I… am surprise that this photo looks relatively normal." He commented, putting the said item down to be filed away later. "What's with the face?"

Naruto sat there with a scowl and arms folded across his chest. He turned his body away from Hitsuka for he was still sore from the 'artistic face incident'. Hitsuka breathed out heavily at the immatureness the boy was showing. 'No matter what Naruto's feelings are, he'll always smile or try to look cool in a photo,' he thought with amusement.

Naruto "humph-ed" when he saw the slight smile on the other boy's face. The Third was confused by the boys' behaviour but dropped it.

The door quietly slid opened. "FIGHT ME! OLD MAN!" A squirt suddenly burst in, screaming a battle cry… only to be promptly cut off when he tried over his own feet.

"Oh NO! Not again," another voice could be heard shouting from the hallway. A man with sunglasses skidded to a stop at the door.

"DAMN IT! Who set a trap?" the kid yelled out, rubbing his throbbing forehead.

"Are you alright!" the man said in an equally loud voice "And there isn't a trap," he added somewhat unhelpfully.

Hitsuka and the Third both mentally rubbed the bridge of their noses. 'Why do they have to be this loud…' they moaned, mentally of course.

"Who's this kid?" Naruto asked, drawing attention to him.

Ebisu, the man with the sunglasses, smirked at the kid. 'Bah, the Kyuubi punk. I hate that looser,' he thought nastily.

'How could I have tripped over!' the boy on the floor thought. 'I'm the Great Konohamaru! There's no way I would do something as stupid as tripping over my own feet! Unless…' He turned to look at the person who was sitting nearest to the door. It was Hitsuka. "I know! You did something!" he yelled, jumping up and jabbed a finger at the white-haired boy who had a look of surprise.

'Eh? Me?' Hitsuka thought uncertainly.

Upon hearing his 'big brother' being wrongly accused, Naruto immediately jumped to his defence, his bitterness all but forgotten. "You just tripped on your own! You idiot!" he yelled, grabbing the front of Konoha's scarf.

Alarmed at the disrespectfulness Naruto was showing, Ebisu yelled out, "Hey! Naruto! Let go of him! That's the Third Hokage's grandson!"

Naruto paused and looked at the squirt in his hand. "Go ahead and punch me!" Konohamaru egged the boy on, thinking that Naruto was too cowardly to do it. He never expected that Naruto would do exactly what he was told to do.

"You think I give a damn! YOU MORON!" Naruto punched the insolent boy on the head.

"OWW!"

"WHAT!" Ebisu screeched.

'Shut up…' the Third and Hitsuka thought at the same time.

Naruto turned to Hitsuka with a huff. "Hitsuka! Let's go home," he said, intending to get away from the little monster behind him.

"Sorry Naruto, you go on ahead. Hokage-sama wants to talk with me," Hitsuka said with an apologetic smile. He quickly went on when Naruto opened his mouth to protest, "Here's some money, go and have lunch at the Ichiraku."

The blond child quickly swallowed any words of protest and yelled out in joy instead. "Whoohoo! You're the best, Hitsuka!" Grabbing the notes from the other boy's hands, he rushed out of the door, tossing a "good bye" over his shoulder.

With the personification of the word hurricane gone from the room, a sudden silence drifted down around them. "Yes…" Hitsuka muttered, quickly squashed the urge to whisper, "Silence."

Unnerved by the silence, Ebisu looked around for his student. "Huh? Damn! He got away again!"

Rubbing his temples, the Third said tiredly, "Looks like he followed Naruto."

"WHAT! That's bad!" With his face set into a frown, Ebisu went running out of the door in search for his young master.

Silence followed with birds cheerfully chirping in the background.

"So…" Hitsuka started, tuning to face the old man, "What is it that you wish to speak to me about, Hokage-sama?"

The Third gave a light cough; whether it was to cover up his embarrassment over his grandson's behaviour or trying to get into a formal mood, Hitsuka couldn't tell. "You've probably already know which rookie genin is on which team, don't you." It was a statement, not a question. Hitsuka nodded slowly, unsure what the older man was trying to say. "Then you'll know that I know what Naruto did to get into the same team with Sasuke," the Hokage continued. "I assume what you know about the future is based around team 7, or more precisely, Naruto."

The boy was shocked that the Third knew so much. He didn't tell anyone that the manga "Naruto" was indeed bases on and around Naruto, so how did he know?

Seeing the question in Hitsuka's eyes, the Third said evenly, "Remember the night you went out for dinner at Jiraiya's place with Tsunade?"

Hitsuka frowned a bit before slowly asked, "The night which I woke up from with a major headache and had absolutely no memory of?" He stared and blinked a couple of times. 'Is it just me or is Hokage-sama ACTUALLY look ashamed? For what? Nah… can't be right, can it?'

"Yes… that night."

Hitsuka cocked his head to one side. "What about it?"

The Third coughed again into his hands. "Well… my students had spent three hours holding you down and forcing you to drink sake until you were drunk," he said, truly ashamed at what his students had done.

Hitsuka blinked slowly. "Huh? They did what?"

"Made you drunk."

He shrugged, thinking that was okay for he had gotten drunk with his brother quite a few times, and said offhandedly, "All well, what this has got to do with what we were talking about before?"

"Everything, for you are quite… tame when you are drunk," the Third replied.

"Eh?"

_Flash back_

"Hic!" the white-haired boy hiccupped and giggled cutely.

Tsunade cooed and poured more sake into the kid's ochoko (small cylindrical cup), spilling some on the floor in the process. "You're finally drunk," she said with a smile, her words were totally different to the tone she was using.

"Took us three F#&ing hours too," Jiraiya added, looking at the boy who took another sip from the ochoko.

Tsunade nodded. "But you must admit that it was quite fun," she patted Hitsuka on the head like one would do with a cat.

He purred.

"Yeah…" Jiraiya admitted, and then he sighed deeply. "But my place is ruined." It indeed was, with chairs and table overturned, a hole on the wall where Hitsuka tried to escape by creating a new exit, bits and pieces of what used to be a couch and the television had one of the chair's legs in its screen. Both adults were no better off, with scratches and bruises all over them.

Even though Hitsuka was only a bit taller than Naruto, one should never underestimate him. He possessed the ability to seriously hurt someone when provoked.

But right now, he was as harmless as sleepy cat. A very large sleepy cat that was currently curled up on the female medic's laps. "I'm surprise that he lasted this long, especially when I had increased the alcohol concentration in his sake," the medic said, pouring herself some more sake.

"Now what? You never actually told me what you are going to do once you got him drunk," Jiraiya asked, scratching his head.

Tsunade's face brightened… not a good sign. She pulled out a bag from underneath an overturned chair, its contents protected by the arch the seat of the chair formed with the ground. "We gonna dressed him up in this!" she said, pulling something out in a flourish.

It was a short, black dress with a lot of white and black laces, frills and ribbons decorating it. Its wide sleeves could easily cover the wearer's hands with all that lace and was low enough to show of her, or in this case, his collarbones. It even came with a little black cap with white lace on the edge. Next out of the bag was a pair of knee-length black stocking, a garter belt and a pair of heavy-soled black shoes. A camera lying oh-so innocently next to the items of clothing.

Jiraiya blinked. "Are you going to do what I think you are going to do which will be suicidal once this boy is sober enough to think," he blurted out, backing away when the woman advanced on him.

"But that's what the camera is for!" Tsunade explained, her finger pointing at the innocent said item. "We can blackmail him! I've always wanted to know what he looks like as a girl."

The white-haired man grinned. "Then what are we waiting for?" With evil grins and occasionally a burst of evil laugh, they began to dress the boy.

Being such an obedient kid, Hitsuka followed the requests of the nice lady in front of him. He had some difficulty in putting on the dress because of all that frills but he managed without ripping anything. Soon, the nice lady was putting some finishing touches on him.

"You are really cute," the weird man said, hiding the bottom half of his face behind his large hand. He was shaking uncontrollably.

"Thank you!" Hitsuka replied cheerfully, tugging the skirt to make it straighter. The man burst out laughing and the woman behind him threw the mascara at the man, telling him to shut up.

"Tsunade-hime… That hurt, how could you do something like that to the hero of Hitsuka's manga?" Jiraiya muttered, rubbing the little black spot on his forehead. "You don't want to kill me, the saviour of the world with evil make-up, do you?"

Tsunade huffed. "If you are the main character in any book, your publisher will soon become broke for no one will buy that kind of perverted stuff," she said and she was probably right,

"You're right!" Hitsuka said with a laugh while clapping his small hands. "How did you know?"

Jiraiya would have melt for Hitsuka was being so darn cute if not for what he just said. "Wh-What! I'm not the main character? How can I not be!" he shrieked, grabbing his hair in denial. "I am the great Jiraiya-sama! Tell me! Who is so great that can take my place?"

"Naruto!" Hitsuka giggled at the comic scene in front of him. Both adults had their jaws planted deeply in the floor now. He laughed. "And Sasuke, and Kakashi-sensei and Sakura! The Team 7!"

Jiraiya went off into a corner and muttered darkly to himself. Tsunade shook his head and held up her camera. She looked at her beautifully finished work. Hitsuka sat there on a chair with frills and laces all around him. His eyes were framed by long eyelashes and his lips were painted red with a bit of sparkles. His long white hair and milky white skin matches his outfit perfectly.

After finished admiring her project, Tsunade slapped a smile on her face and said, "Hitsuka, now be a good girl and pose cutely for me."

Hitsuka nodded and stood up, wobbling a bit on his high heel boots. 'Hmm…? What's with all that underlining words?' he thought to himself, his face took on a sheepish look. 'Hmm… Oh yeah! All those words mostly associate with girls! I'm so smart! But why am I put into the same sentence with those words?' He tilted his head to one side and blinked adorably.

The flashlight went off.

He struggled to think. 'I'm a boy and I don't like to be dressed up as a girl. So why do I look like one now?' He looked up at the woman who was busy taking his pictures from under his eyelashes. His eyes flashed darkly and instinct took over. 'That woman… and that man… Attack...'

Tsunade gave a start when the boy-turned-girl in front of her vanished. Her trained eyes quickly caught up with the boy who appeared to be standing really, really close to her. "Oh…" she gasped faintly, her eyes captured by the sparkling liquid gold that belonged to the boy. 'He's not completely drunk…'

"Tsunade-sama…"

"Yes?" the said woman said quietly.

"I'll be taking this." Grabbing the camera, Hitsuka jumped back, not at all hindered by his platform shoes.

Tsunade blinked then lunged forward but she was too late. Hitsuka had already pulled out the film. "NO!" she cried out as her blackmail materials disappeared like smoke. "No…"

Poking his tongue out childishly, Hitsuka snatched his clothes from the ground and quickly escaped from Jiraiya's place. He managed to get back to his apartment without any more embarrassing incidents. He changed out of the porcelain doll's clothes, hid them and then fell asleep. As his head hit the pillow, he hoped, 'Let me forget what happened tonight…'

_End of flash back_

'And I did manage to forget…' the boy thought in surprise. He was now glad that he got quite used to drinking alcohol with his brother; the only reason why his alcohol tolerance was that high. "So from Jiraiya-sama and Tsunade-sama you found out who's in Team 7," Hitsuka said and the Third nodded. "And I'm guessing you're still putting them on the same team so you won't change the present too much to affect the future." Another nod. "So… what am I doing here?"

The Hokage leaned his chin against his joined fingers. "I… am going to take your name off the secret list of the current Konoha anbus," he said evenly.

"EH?"

"… and give you the title of genin, one that just passed today," the great leader finished, pulling out a Konoha forehead-protector that Hitsuka never got.

Hitsuka stared and he went, "EH?" for the second time. 'Déjà vu…' he thought.

"But because this sudden 'promotion', there isn't enough genins to make another team so you'll have to join with one of the existing teams…" the Third went on, looking really troubled. "Which one do you want to go on to?"

Finally caught on Hokage-sama's train of thought, Hitsuka smiled. "I have just the right team in mind."

_In the apartment_

"So how was your day? I thought you'd be back home before me," Hitsuka asked, stirring the content of the pot. They were having curry that night.

Naruto grinned happily when he was asked this. "Guessed what! Someone made me his boss today! Guess who it was!"

Already knew what happened between him and the kid, Hitsuka said with a smile, "I don't know… Konohamaru-kun?"

"EH? How do you know! Che… You're no fun," Naruto said with a pout.

Hitsuka laughed quietly. "Well, you can tell me why he decided that you should be his boss."

Naruto's face immediately brightened. "Okay! It was all because of my superior strength and handsome look. He asked me to teach him Oiroke no Jutsu! So I did. But damn! He was so stupid…"

_The next day_

"Yo! Sasuke," Naruto greeted the dark-haired boy who just came in.

Sasuke waved and sat down next to the blond. He gave Naruto a side-way glance and said with a smirk, "Yo… Dobe…"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!"

Hitsuka rubbed his ears and winced slightly. 'He's so loud…' he thought quietly and gave a mental sigh.

The trio were currently sitting in Iruka's classroom; their old classroom. Hitsuka sat in his (very) old seat by the window. Naruto was next to him and then Sasuke. The newly promoted genins crowded around them in a cheerful mass. They were going to be assigned into teams today and all had an excited but nervous air around them.

"Morning, everyone," Hinata said in her soft voice which was nearly drowned by the noisy chattering about the small group and by Naruto's continuous yelling. She looked at Hitsuka and both shrugged with a smile. She sat down in the bench-seat in front of the three boys'. "Why are you here, Hitsuka-kun?"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!"

Rolling his eyes, Hitsuka answered Hinata's question, "It's a secret. You'll find out soon."

"DobeDobeDobeDobe…" Sasuke answered Naruto at the same time as Hitsuka without fail.

"EH! Who do you think I became one fo-" Naruto was never able to finish for his face was suddenly embedded in the school desk, leaving behind a mould of it. The desk could later become the famous 'Youthful face of our beloved Hokage-sama who was punched by our great medic-nin in defence of our brave anbu captain'. But, one never knew if that would really happen.

"How dare you talk to Sasuke-kun like that!"

'It's her…' Hitsuka thought, turning his head to watch the show. He wondered how Sakura's arm was able to reach over Sasuke's head and punched Naruto's. 'Mr, no, 'Miss' Tickle. Hahaha…'

"Apologise to Sasuke-kun right now!" Sakura all but screeched. The bubblegum-pink-haired girl stood next to Sasuke, hands on her hips and glared at Naruto. "Apologise!"

She would have looked very impressive and all that, if Naruto was actually listening. He was nursing the front and the back of his head with Hinata fussing over him in worry. "Na-Naruto-kun, are you all right," she said in an anxious tone.

Naruto gave a large grin to reassure the still timid girl. "Don't worry, Hinata-chan! I'm tough and strong. That didn't hurt a bit!" he said in such a cheerful voice that caused surrounding people to smile too.

Not Sakura though. 'How dare he ignore me!' Inner Sakura fumed. Wanting to save her Prince Charming from the evil blond monster ('Not that he needed the help!' Inner Sakura yelled), she squeezed passed Sasuke (nearly melting from the warm heat that radiated off her love one) and pushed Naruto towards Hitsuka. "Sasuke-kun! Can I sit next to you?"

Sasuke didn't say anything and Sakura took this as a yes. Watching her crush sitting next to her in a I-am-so-cool pose nearly cause her to faint. A few groups of girls in the room glared at Sakura. "Damn that girl!" they muttered together and then dreamily stared at Sasuke with a sigh.

In reality, Sasuke was trying to hold in his laughter caused by the comical look Naruto had on his face by pressing his lips tightly against his joined fingers. It wouldn't do any good to his reputation if he suddenly burst out laughing.

"Hitsuka…" Naruto whined like a wounded puppy which only made Sasuke twitched harder.

Hitsuka patted him on the head. "There, there…"

'Sasuke-kun is so cool!' Sakura thought, melting.

'I'm going to get Sasuke-kun today! I'm going to steal his first kiss!' Inner Sakura said fiercely.

Knowing exactly what was going through the girl's mind, Hitsuka laughed quietly. 'Poor Sasuke…' he thought, trying to count how many Sasuke-kun/-sama clubs there were in the whole village. Unknown to the white-haired boy, he actually had more fan clubs than Sasuke. One half of them consisted of females and the other half males (who were under the impression that Hitsuka was a girl… hopefully…).

Couldn't hold his laughter in anymore, Sasuke chuckled ever so quietly. It could have been covered by the mindless chattering but Naruto's keen and enlarged (anime style) ears picked it up. "Sasuke…" he growled, crouching down on the table to shove his face into Sasuke's.

'Can it happen?' Hitsuka thought. He wasn't sure if he was hoping it to happen or not, but got his camera out anyway. He positioned himself to get the best shot and gave an evil mental laugh. 'I'm ready…'

"Hey! Naruto! Get out of Sasuke-kun's face!" Sakura yelled, her Inner Sakura surfacing.

"Kick his ass! Sasuke-kun!" almost every girl in the room shrieked, making Hitsuka's and Hinata's ears to ring.

With neither side backing down, Naruto and Sasuke were soon engaged in a childish staring competition. "Grr…" they both growled softly.

The boy sitting next to Hinata leaned back on the desk behind him. "Wow, really," he said to his friend and accidentally bumped someone. "Oh! Sorry about that!" he apologised, not noticing just how quiet the room suddenly became. "Dude?"

Click. Click. Click.

And the flashlight went off multiple of times, sealing the scene in front of the camera forever on to a plastic strip.

Naruto kissing Sasuke…

Sasuke kissing Naruto…

After a slight pause, prolonged by extreme shock, the two boys sprang apart and started to wipe their mouths and spit. "EW!"

"I'm going to kill you! Naruto!" Sasuke yelled with a glimmer of tear in his eyes.

"AH! My mouth is rotting!" the blond yelled dramatically.

"I never knew that you two are together," Hitsuka said with an innocent smile, putting his camera quickly away. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"HITSUKA!"

"HITSUKA!"

Hitsuka laughed and cocked his head to one side. "Naruto…"

"Yeah?"

"You really should run now," he warned Naruto, smiling all the time.

"Eh? Why?" Naruto asked stupidly. 'What is that killing intent I'm feeling?'

Beaming with happiness with a tint of evilness, Hitsuka answered, "Because I'm positive that Haruno-san is going to kill you now."

Hearing this, Naruto fearfully turned around and gasped in horror. "Sa-Sakura! I can explain! It was an accident."

"Naruto… You're really…" Sakura cracked her knuckle. "Annoying…"

Hitsuka ignored Naruto's cried for help and sat down calmly. 'I'm worried,' he thought, resting his chin on his palms, 'that Naruto is thinking on same wavelength as Jiraiya-sama. Come on! Even when facing their Death (Tsunade and Sakura), their pleads for their life are identical. Hmm…'

_A while later…_

A smoking and beat up Naruto sprawled over the table in a mess. Neither Hitsuka nor Hinata were making any move to heal him for they were too busy listening to Iruka. "Now… you'll all soon be assigned duties by the village. So today we will be creating the three men teams and each team will have a jounin sensei," he said, very proud of his students. After the excited chatter calmed down a bit, he continued, "You will follow that sensei's instructions as you complete the assigned duties."

'Naruto-kun… please let me be with him,' Hinata prayed, holding her hands tightly.

'I have to be with Sasuke-kun! I have too beat Ino-pig!' Sakura thought with determination.

'I'll definitely be with Naruto/Sasuke,' the two boys thought with confident.

'Hehehe…' Hitsuka mentally laughed in a I-know-something-you-don't-know way.

"We tried to balance each team's strength," Iruka went on, mentally bracing himself for the scream that was about to come…

"WHAT!"

… And he was right. "Anyway! Team 1…" he started.

People waited with anticipation. Who would they be with? Would they be the strong ones? Or the weak ones? Were they made a good team with their team-mates? The questions went on and on.

"… Next Team 7, Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke..."

Sakura jumped up and cheered loudly. The other girls sighed in disappointment for they couldn't get their Sasuke-kun while Hinata was for the loss of her, err… of Naruto-kun. Sasuke and Naruto reached around the hyper girl to do high-five.

"… And Yuki Hitsuka," Iruka finally was able to finish.

"WHAT!" the newly-made Team 7 yelled.

"EH!" the rest of the class followed suit.

'We've been getting quite a lot of that response today,' Hitsuka and Iruka thought, hiding their grins.

"But I thought there will only be three people in one team!" a random boy called out to Iruka. "That's not fair!"

"I know I said that I'll be putting you into three men teams but since there aren't enough of you to make one more team, Hitsuka has to join with one of the existing team," Iruka explained. "And seeing as Hitsuka didn't finish studying in the Academy, he doesn't actually have a record… so he is grouping up with Team 7 which has the two top students of this year."

"Hitsuka! Why didn't you tell me anything?" Naruto complained.

Hitsuka shrugged. "I wanted to give you a surprise, and besides, I didn't know which team I'll be on."

"All well, it's great now that you're on our team now," Sasuke said and gave Hitsuka a high-five. Naruto blinked then went on cheering.

Sakura did not get one bit of what the boys' relationships were. Not one bit. As far as she knew, Sasuke-kun was the best out of the best! Handsome with his dark looks, intelligent, fabulous, and… so on. Naruto used to be on the top with her Sasuke-kun but now he was the dead-last. As for Yuki Hitsuka… she didn't know a lot about him because he wasn't at the Academy but the others seemed to know him quite well. 'Ah well,' she thought with a toss of her head, 'who cares.'

"Team 8, Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino."

Hinata turned and spotted the two boys. She gave a shy nod and quickly turned back behind she saw their returned acknowledgement.

"Team 10, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji and Yamanaka Ino."

"AH! Why do I have to get the fatso and that idiot?" Ino yelled out, throwing her hands up into the air.

"Heh… Watch who called fatso and idiot," Shikamaru complained but Ino wasn't listening.

"Haha! Ino-pig! I've got Sasuke-kun," Sakura taunted the other girl.

"Shut up! Forehead-girl!" The two girls growled at each other across the room.

Iruka rubbed his aching head. 'Well… this should work out…' he thought to himself, trying not to look at the chaotic scene in front of him.

_That afternoon in Iruka's classroom_

"Hmm…" Naruto hummed, poking his head out of the door. "Where is he or she?"

"Naruto! Sit still!" Sakura said, annoyed.

Naruto frowned. "Why is our sensei so damn late!" he questioned and sat down with a 'humph' after closing the door. "All the other teams have gone off with their sensei and Iruka-sensei also has left."

"I'm sure he'll be here soon," Hitsuka said, knowing fully well what kind of a man their teacher was. "So don't you dare do anything inappropriate."

"Who? Me? What are you talking about?" Naruto said, fluttering his eyelashes innocently. "But he's really late! Ne, Sasuke."

"Yeah…" Sasuke sighed and frowned at the door as if he was trying to burn it down with his eyes. But even if he had the eyes of the powerful Sharingan, he couldn't achieve it.

Sakura's eyes turned into love hearts. 'Ah…' she melted… again. Suddenly the door opened from behind, causing her to give a 'light' shriek. She yelled again when several kunais and shurikens spun passed her and embedded themselves into the door frame and the door itself.

"You're late, sensei," Sasuke and Naruto said at the same time, glaring at the said man. The first impression both boys had was, 'Weird.' Spiky silver hair sticking out in many directions, one of his eyes covered by his Konoha forehead protector and the bottom half of his face was also covered with a mask. The rest was normal: the standard chuunin and jounin uniform. His only visible eye held a lazy and unmotivated look.

"What a warm welcome," the man said sarcastically and threw back the kunais and shurikens he had blocked earlier. Looking around the room. His eye (A/N: I nearly made that word plural) landed on the white-haired boy and widened ever-so slightly. 'Yuki Hitsuka?'

Seeing the man looking at him, Hitsuka waved. "Good afternoon, Hatake-san. No, I should call you Kakashi-sensei now," he said, smiling.

"Do you know him, Hitsuka?" Naruto asked, surprised by this news.

"Ah… You've met him before when you were younger," Hitsuka told his brother. "You probably don't remember that now."

"I see you guys up on the roof," their new sensei suddenly said, turning around to move out of the door. "Oh yeah! My first impression of you guys is…"

The students held their breaths.

"Not too bad at all." His eye curved into a crescent shape. Then he went poof-ed away.

"Was that weird or what," Sakura said after a small pause.

Naruto jumped up and yelled out, "Sasuke, Hitsuka! Race you guys to the roof!"

"You're on," Sasuke replied, rushing out of the door.

"Hey! That's cheating!"

Soon, the two boys' yelling faded away, leaving Sakura and Hitsuka alone in the room. Standing up slowly, Hitsuka went to the window. "Yuki-kun…" Sakura started, unsure where the boy was heading. "Shouldn't we go to the roof?"

"Call me Hitsuka and yes, Haruno-san, we should," Hitsuka said, opening one of the windows. "See you up there," he said and gave the girl a smile. He then jumped out and vanished from Sakura's sight.

"…" she went, then, "AH!" She turned and ran up the stairs, disturbing dust once again after the other two boys.

By the time Naruto and Sasuke arrived, Hitsuka was already there. He didn't walk up the side of the building; instead he jumped from window shutter to window shutter. He didn't really want to show how much he could do to Kakashi just yet. The two boys were disappointed but then went on to try to determine who came second.

Several minutes later, they could hear someone coming up from the stairs, breathing heavily. Sakura nearly slumped through the door, looking beaten. 'Crap…' she thought, 'I think I need more exercise.'

"Now you're all here, let's begin with some introductions," Kakashi said, sitting on the metal rail with his students facing him.

Recovering fast, Sakura asked, "What do you want to know?"

Shrugging, Kakashi replied, "How about your likes, dislikes… dreams for the future and hobbies. Stuff like that."

Naruto scratched his and asked, "Hey, why do you introduce yourself first."

"Yeah… You look suspicious," Sakura agreed, unknowingly echoing Naruto's and Sasuke's thoughts. Hitsuka laughed which he quickly covered with a short coughing fit.

"Me? Well… my name is Hatake Kakashi. I have no desire to tell you guys my likes and dislikes. Dreams for the future…? Hmm… Well, I have lots of hobbies," he said, answering and not answering the questions at the same time.

Sakura turned to look at the boys. "So… All we learned… is his name?" They all sweat-dropped except Hitsuka who was rather tempted to reveal all what he knew about their new teacher. But he didn't; it wouldn't do for him to 'spill the beans' on the first day.

Smiling underneath his mask, Kakashi said, "Now it's your turn, from the right."

Sitting on the right was Naruto so he started first. "Me! My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like Hitsuka, my friends, ramen and Ichiraku. I dislike those who hurt Hitsuka and those that are close to me, the three minutes I have to wait for the cup ramen to cook and Hitsuka forbidding me from eating ramen.'

'Does he think anything besides Hitsuka and ramen?' Kakashi asked himself, fairly amused.

"My dream is to surpass all the Hokages before me and then have all the people of this village acknowledge my existence!"

Kakashi was interested by what the boy said. 'He's grown in an interesting way…'

"Hobbies are pranks and training with Hitsuka and Sasuke," Naruto finally finished.

"Okay… next," Kakashi said, scratching his head.

Next was Hitsuka. "My name is Yuki Hitsuka. I like Naruto, my friends and books. Like Naruto, I don't like the people who hurt those close to me. My dream… is to see Naruto become a great Hokage. And my hobbies are training and reading," Hitsuka ended, not saying as much as Naruto had done.

'Those two are pretty close considering their relationship,' Kakashi concluded then said, "Next, the brunette."

"Name's Uchiha Sasuke. I like… my family and friends and I dislike a lot of things. My dream is to become the best anbu captain ever. My hobbies are training and learning," Sasuke said, being way more mature than Naruto.

'Cool,' Sakura thought with a love heart.

'Like his brother, Uchiha Itachi probably,' Kakashi thought. "Ok… and lastly the girl."

Blushing when everyone's attention was on her. "Err… I'm Haruno Sakura. The thing I like… well… it's more the person I like is…" She glanced to her right. "Umm… Should I say my dream for the future? OH MY" she screamed then her voice took on a deadpanned tone, "I dislike Ino-pig and Naruto."

"EH? Why?" Naruto asked, couldn't remember what he did to make the girl felt such way towards him.

"Because you stole Sasuke's first kiss!"

"But that wasn't my fault! Besides, it was disgusting!"

Hitsuka elbowed a blushing Sasuke and smiled when the boy's face turned into a deeper shade of crimson. 'I should give him a copy of the photos I took. I should give some to Itachi-nii-san too,' he thought with an evil-laugh.

'Girls of this age are more interested in love than ninjutsu,' Kakashi thought disappointedly. "Okay, that's enough of that. Sakura, stop hitting Naruto." The girl backed off reluctantly. "We will start out duties tomorrow," Kakashi said.

Naruto cheered, "YAY! What kind of duties?"

"First we are going to do something with just the five of us."

"What? What?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Survival training," Kakashi answered.

"Survival training?" Naruto questioned, a question mark on his head. He looked at Sasuke and Sasuke looked at him. They both shrugged then faced their sensei.

"Why is our duty survival training?" Sakura asked. "We did enough training at the Academy."

"I'm your opponent but this isn't normal training," Kakashi said, watching the question marks in all his students except one: Hitsuka. 'Why's that?' he thought.

"Then… What is it?" Sasuke finally asked when the silence stretched for too long.

Kakashi laughed.

"Err… what so funny, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, a bit freaked.

'This is going to be so fun,' Kakashi thought, a mental chibi Kakashi jumping around and giggling. "Well… It's just that when I tell you this, you guys are definitely going to flip."

"Flip? Why's that?" Naruto asked, not understanding.

Looking at them darkly, Kakashi answered the question in a deep voice, "Of the twenty-eight graduates, only maximum ten will be chosen as genin. The rest will be sent back to the Academy. This training is a super difficult exam with a failure rate of over 66!" He watched in interest of his students' reactions. He was a bit disappointed.

While Sakura looked pale and a bit dead, Naruto and Sasuke grinned for they were confident in their skills and were looking forward to the challenge. Hitsuka only smiled.

Wanting to say, "Haha, told you you'd flip." But it didn't seem to fit this situation with only one of them actually flipped. He scratched his head. "Anyway, tomorrow you will be graded on the training field. Bring all your shinobi tools, you'll need them. Oh, and skip breakfast. You'll throw up."

"Throw up? Is it that though?" Sakura yelled, looking very worried.

Kakashi shrugged (again) and handed out a few sheets of paper. "The details can be read on this printout. Don't be late tomorrow," he warned.

'But, if I fail this, I'll be separated from Sasuke-kun. This is a test of love!' Sakura thought unwaveringly, gripping her piece of paper tightly in her hands.

"See you guys," their sensei said, poof-ing away.

"Hitsuka… I'm hungry," Naruto whined, looking at the said boy with his puppy-dog eyes.

"It is rather late…" Hitsuka said, looking at his watch. "Let's go and have some ramen at Ichiraku."

"YAY! Hitsuka, you're the best!" Naruto shouted. "Sasuke! Do you wanna come?"

"Sure, why not."

The two boys jumped off from the roof and headed in the general direction of the restaurant via roof tops.

Hitsuka sighed at their eagerness. "Haruno-san, would you like to come?" he asked the girl who gave a start.

"Err.. Um…" Sakura wasn't sure. She was hoping that Sasuke-kun would ask her to go too but he was already gone. But did it matter? If she went, she could be close to her Sasuke-kun anyway! "Sure… but you have to call me Sakura, Hitsuka-kun."

"Okay… Sakura-san."

After the final two children left, Kakashi came out of the shadow. 'Not too bad… they're already working together,' he thought. 'But why isn't Hitsuka at all surprised by what I said? Interesting… We'll see tomorrow."

_Next morning_

"Err…" Sakura groaned weakly, leaning against a tree. "Why do I have to be here at this ungodly hour? I'm hungry… Where's Sasuke-kun?" She sat there, doing this and that for two more hours. She then heard approaching footsteps. It was her male team mates. "Sasuke-kun! Good morning!" she called out, jumping to his feet.

"Morning! Sakura!" Naruto yelled and Sasuke murmured his greeting.

"Good morning, Sakura-san," Hitsuka said in a more polite tone.

"Why are you guys so late?" she accused, tapping her foot. 'Damn… I'm so hungry!'

"Because that's the way Kakashi-sensei is," the white-haired boy answered, getting something out from his bag. "So we went out for breakfast."

"Bu-But Kakashi-sensei said not to eat breakfast!" Sakura said in shock.

'How dare they have breakfast while I starve? And I didn't eat last night as well because of that stupid diet…' Inner Sakura fumed.

Hitsuka looked at the girl curiously and said, "I'd rather throw up then faint in hunger in a dangerous situation. I believe I told you all these yesterday."

Sakura blushed when she remember the boy's warning at the ramen place yesterday. Except she was too busy staring at Sasuke to listen. She was beating herself up (mentally) for not eating breakfast when her nose caught a whiff of good food! "Eh?"

"I hope you like a bacon and egg sandwich," Hitsuka asked, holding out something wrapped in some napkins.

"Thanks…" She accepted the food gratefully and started eating slowly. 'Did he prepare this sandwich just for me? How… kind…'

Another hour had passed and at around ten o'clock, Kakashi walked up to the quartet, calling out, "Hey guys. Good morning!"

Pissed by waiting for such a long time, three voices yelled out in union, "YOU ARE LATE!" Hitsuka only gave a smile then went back to his book. Kakashi laughed.

Putting an alarm clock down on a tree stump, Kakashi pushed the button on the top. "Okay… It's set for noon," he said. He then went on explaining more when the kids looked confused, "Here are three bells and your task is to take these from me before noon. Those who cannot get a bell by noon get no lunch. I'll tie you to one of those stumps and I'll eat right in front of you."

'That's why he told us not to eat!' those who didn't know thought. 'But, we've already eaten.'

Kakashi took out three bells and let them hang off on some strings from his hand. "You only need to get one bell. There are three, so one of you will definitely be tied to a stump and the person who doesn't get a bell fails. So, at least one of you will be sent back to the Academy," he said darkly.

Sakura gulped but the three boys looked rather confident.

Kakashi went on, "You can even use your kunais and shurikens. You won't succeed unless you come at me intending to kill."

Sakura yelled out, horrified, "But! You'll be in danger!"

"Nah… he'll be fine, Sakura. He's a jounin!" Naruto said, thrilled to have the chance to go against such a skilled ninja.

Kakashi smiled, not that anyone could see because of his mask. "I'm glad you hold me in such a high light," he chuckled, "seems like… I'm beginning to like you guys." Every kid grinned back at him. "Okay… let's get going. Ready… START!" With a whoosh of wind, everyone disappeared from the clearing.

_A few minutes later_

Walking towards the river, Kakashi scratched the back of his head and said softly, as if talking to someone, "The basics of a ninja are to hide yourself well." Looking around, he couldn't see anyone. 'Good, they've all hidden well.'

But of course he still knew where they were for their hiding skills were no match against his long years training of sensing people's presence. All except one. 'Where's Hitsuka?' the man thought, scratching his nose. 'From what I saw and heard before, it was him who told everyone else to eat breakfast, also, he wasn't at all surprised by all the things I said! I wonder why…'

Suddenly, someone tumbled out from underneath some bushes. "Kakashi-sensei! Come and fight me!"

It was Naruto. "I said, fight me!" he repeated when Kakashi made no response.

"Um… You're a little bit off…" Kakashi said slowly.

"The only thing a bit off is your hair cut!" Naruto yelled, running towards the man.

Kakashi sighed deeply to himself. 'Dead last of the year… right? Looks like I'll have to give him the lesson that Iruka-sensei didn't,' he thought to himself. 'How tiring…'

_A few kilometres away from the clearing_

"The answer to this test is teamwork. This is just a test to split us up. The whole bells business is to make us fight amongst ourselves and achieve nothing. A jounin can be beaten by at least three genins and there are four of us. As long we work as a team, we'll pass," Hitsuka said and the other two boys nodded in understand.

Sakura didn't understand. "Why should we listen to you?" Sakura hissed. She didn't like the way Hitsuka was telling her and her Sasuke-kun to do things. "You're not even one of us until yesterday!" She was referring to the fact that Hitsuka didn't go to the Academy with everyone else.

Sasuke and Naruto blinked. They looked at each before turned to face Sakura and said at the same time, "Sakura, it is you that's not one of us."

"Eh?" Sakura question softly, shocked that Sasuke-kun said that to her.

They two boys weren't being mean but were just stating the truth. To them, Sakura was their team mate but wasn't 'one' of them yet. Hitsuka sighed and bonked them both on the head. "You two don't have to be so mean," he said in a tired tone. "Sakura-san, please don't listen to these two."

"I-I don't understand… Why are you so close with Sasuke-kun and Naruto," Sakura stuttered. 'Sasuke-kun…'

"Ah… I've known Sasuke since we were six," Hitsuka replied. "And Naruto since three."

'S-So long!' Sakura thought in surprise. "A-Ah! I'm so sorry for what I said before," she apologised, blushing heavily.

Hitsuka waved his hand. "It doesn't matter. Don't worry about it," he said. "Let's make a plan on how we gonna get those bells."

"All right!"

_Where Kakashi was_

He laughed in amusement even though he was covered in bright yellow paint. 'How was I supposed to know that by destroying the Bunshin it would spray out paint? Well… maybe I shouldn't have used Sennen Goroshi (One Thousand Years of Pain).' Kakashi thought scratching the back of his head. 'I guess that was the forbidden jutsu Naruto used to defeat Mizuki. Hmm… I can't feel any one of the kids right now. Should I go and find them? Hmm…'

Suddenly, the 'book' in his hand was gone, which was saved by Kakashi from the paint slaughter just in time. "Eh?" he questioned, looking down at the said hand.

"Isn't a ninja not supposed to get caught from behind?" Hitsuka asked, dangling the little orange book between his fingers. "Icha Icha Paradise… A perverted book by Jiraiya-sama," he muttered, tucking it away into a small backpack on his back.

"Give that back!" Kakashi yelled, already missing the feel of the book in his hand. 'How did he sneak up on me? I'm a jounin and an ex-anbu, dammit!'

Hitsuka gave his sensei a look and then stuck his tongue out. "No!" He then turned and hightailed out of there.

"GET BACK HERE! YOU-YOU… THIEF!" Kakashi shouted, chasing after the boy on top speed.

Knowing that he could not outrun the man even without all his weights, Hitsuka did a few hand seals. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu…" Four more Hitsuka popped out around the original one and started to fan out, releasing a little bit of presence. The original one ducked and hid under some bushes. He only hoped that the body spray that he used to stop sensitive noses from detecting him was still working.

Feeling four presences running away from him, Kakashi knew that Hitsuka could use the forbidden jutsu as well. "But I know where you are…" he muttered, choosing one of the Hitsukas and pursued the boy.

Once the dust and leaves settled, the white-haired boy crawled out from his hiding place. He stared after the clear trail of chaos that his teacher created. 'I'm so glad that I've perfected my hiding skill…' he thought and took off in the opposite direction to meet up with the others.

"Have you got it?" Naruto asked when he saw Hitsuka coming towards them. The children were currently hiding in a tree, looking out for their teacher.

Hitsuka threw the book at the boy. "Don't you dare 'have a look'!" he called after it. "I'll know."

Both Naruto and Sasuke paused on their trip to adulthood and slipped the book into the small crack in the tree. "We better listen," Sasuke whispered from the corner of his mouth and Naruto nodded.

"Hitsuka-kun! Do you need help?" Sakura asked, warming up to the kind boy.

"No, thank you. I'll be fine." Hitsuka was currently finishing the traps that surrounded the whole area, waiting for Kakashi's arrival. The boy was only safe from setting off all the traps was because the others had previously left a pathway traps-free in which he had came through. "They're done."

"Now we wait," Naruto said, crouching down.

Hitsuka Clone No. 1 checked his watch. 'Ten minutes has passed,' he thought and signalled to Hitsuka Clone No. 2 and No. 4 who nodded. Their mate, Hitsuka Clone No. 3 at the moment was being hunted by an angry, skilled jounin who used to be an anbu. They were going to his rescue.

Hitsuka Clone No. 2 threw down a smoke bomb at the running pair and then jumped off from the tree with the others. Landing perfectly on their (?) teacher and held the man down to the best of their abilities. Hitsuka Clone No. 3 nodded his thanks and scampered away in the original Hitsuka's direction.

With a roar, Kakashi throw off the weight on him, which caused Hitsuka Clone No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4 popped into non-existence, and darted after Clone No. 3, not that he knew he was a clone.

Original Hitsuka received the information from his clones and knew Kakashi was coming towards them and would arrive in a matter of seconds. "Get ready," he told the others and prepared himself. As soon a new set of information came into his mind, he knew the man had 'killed' the clone and was coming. He let go his hold on hiding his presence to lure the man.

"There…" Kakashi muttered, pinpointing the four small presences in his mind. Around 30 metres away from his destination, something went 'pin'! He leaned backwards, successfully dodging the flying kunais that were aiming at his head. "And the fun begins," he said to himself with mirth in his voice.

Dodging, jumping, skipping, leaning, doing flips and everything that a human body could possibly do was done by Kakashi to stop himself from becoming a human hedgehog. Kunais, shurikens (both small and large), senbons, makubishins, bombs and a lot more were aimed at him. Occasional liquid attacks were also presented. Sometimes one trap would set off another in rapid succession.

But he was doing well and got through all the traps if you didn't count the funny smell. He accidentally stood on a puddle of it when he stood back from the sharp poles that shot out from the ground he was standing on. 'It's something between rotten lemons and… stuff,' he thought and laughed.

Suddenly, everything stopped. No more attacks, no more telltale sighs and sounds of traps, set off and non-set off. It was the calm before the storm. 'A big storm,' Kakashi judged. 'Fun.'

'Three,' Hitsuka thought, his hand showed three fingers. 'Two… one… GO!' Naruto and Sasuke burst out from their hiding places and headed towards their teacher with their war cries.

'You're joking…' Kakashi thought, somewhat disbelieved by his students' stupidity. He avoided Naruto's punch to his face and skipped over Sasuke's leg that was attempting to swipe his feet from underneath him. 'But they do have good teamwork…'

"Sakura-san, are you ready?" Hitsuka whispered, afraid that Kakashi might hear him even though the two boys were distracting the man.

"I-I'm not sure that I can do it…" Sakura answered truthfully.

Hitsuka smiled and patted the girl on the shoulder. "You'll be fine," he encouraged. "You're not the smartest kunoichi of the year for nothing."

Sakura clenched her hands into fists and nodded firmly. "I'll do it." Doing a rat hand seal, and out of habit, she whispered, "Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu (Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing)."

Kakashi started when Sasuke did some hand seals and blew a fireball at him. 'Goukakyuu no Jutsu! A genin shouldn't have enough chakra to be able to use that jutsu!' he thought then did a few hand seals of his own. 'Doton: Shinjuu Zanshi no Jutsu…'

Already knew that this might happened because of Hitsuka's warning, Sasuke and Naruto were already out of Kakashi's grabbing range. 'Quite smart…' Kakashi thought, emerging from underneath the ground only to find leaves swirling around him. 'Eh? Isn't this…'

Then he saw it. He saw Obito… Dying… Again…

"Kai!" Kakashi said steadily, destroying the flow in the genjutsu. His hand shot out on its own, catching someone's wrist tightly. The bells jingled brightly in the stilled air.

'Crap…' Hitsuka thought, the owner of the trapped hand.

"Clever… but not enough," Kakashi said with a smile and pulled the three bells away from Hitsuka's hand. He then tossed the boy into some bushes.

And the alarm bell rang, signalling the end of this test.

The students groaned and the teacher laughed. "Let's go back to the clearing," Kakashi said and thought, 'I can pass a team for a change.'

_In front of the poles_

"I guess you guys found the answer to this test," Kakashi started, looking at each kid.

"Teamwork, right?" Sasuke asked and the silver-haired man nodded his head.

"You got that right. So you obviously know what the bells are for," he said.

This time, it was Sakura who answered, "They are there to make us fight amongst ourselves. The purpose is to see whether we can forget about our own interests and successfully work with each other."

"Teamwork is very important because…?" Kakashi looked at Hitsuka.

"Teamwork can help a team to achieve something that's hard or not possible for an individual to accomplish," the white-haired boy said. "But there must be some kind of tacit understanding in the team for individual play can disrupt the team and can put follow team-mates in danger… and death." Kakashi hummed in agreement.

Naruto fidgeted until he finally couldn't hold on anymore. "Are you gonna pass us or not!" he yelled nervously. His shout echoed everyone's thoughts.

Kakashi scratched his chin. "Well…"

"Well…?" the kids repeated.

"Well… Congratulation, you've all passed."

"YAY! YAY! YAY!" Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura cheered, shouting and running around. Celebrating their success. Hitsuka grinned and pulled out something orange to give it back to its owner.

"Ah… Thank you very much," the pervert man said and flipped it open to read again.

He giggled and blushed.

The kids stared and backed away slowly.

* * *

REVIEWS! I love them, a lot. So please give me some. Please… 


	18. Chapter 18

…

I AM SORRY!

starts dodging rotten vegetables and heavy objects

Whew…

wipes forehead and… TONK! gets hit on the forehead with… some unknown object

I said I was sorry…

Okay, a few changes. One is Sasuke's parents' names. I found their official names awhile ago so I decided to change.

Two, in case you haven't notice, Naruto and Hitsuka no longer calls each other with the –chan suffix. That's because I asked my friend and she said that it's very, very weird for two boys the same age calling each other with that suffix.

That's all. Have fun reading.

I hope.

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

**Kyuubi talking**

-Shion talking-

* * *

Chapter eighteen

"YUKI HTSUKA!!! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!!!"

This was the cry that disturbed the peaceful Konoha afternoon. Many looked around themselves in confusion and wonder. "Who was it? Who has the ability to yell that loud?" they asked each other, looking at the direction the yell came from.

"Why Hitsuka-kun/-chan? What did he/she do?" the various (self-acclaimed) Official Hitsuka Fan Clubs asked out loud. "Don't kill him/her!" (1)

The girls who were in the middle of their Sasuke-sama fan club meeting asked, "Was that Sasuke-sama? Sounded like him…"

Indeed it was Uchiha Sasuke who yelled and the said boy was out for revenge. "I'm going to kill him! Yes… a painful death," he growled, storming down the street towards the white-haired boy's apartment. He laughed evilly, causing people to scuttle out of his way, fast.

The reason why Sasuke was planning the demise of Hitsuka was because of a small and seemly innocent package that arrived this morning (the day after they were officially given the title of genin), addressed to his mother. To: Uchiha Mikoto, Uchiha Mansion, it said. Being the good boy that he was, Sasuke gave it to its receiver. He then walked away, thinking that he should practice some ninjutsu or taijutsu in his family's large dojo.

That was before he heard the crash of glassware on hard floor.

Knowing that his mother was drinking tea before he left her, he rushed to the kitchen, fearing for the worst. Skidding to a stop, he yelled out in concern, "Mother! Are you alright!?" He never expected to see his mother holding onto the kitchen bench for support and… laughing helplessly.

Hearing her son's worried voice, Mikoto gasped out, "I'm fine, Sasuke-chan." When she turned and saw Sasuke, her lips trembled and she burst into a new round of laughter. "I-I'm sorry."

"Mother…?" Sasuke asked tentatively, stepping forward. He wondered if his mother had eaten some kind of weird mushroom.

"Sasuke-chan, why didn't you tell me that you're in love?" Mikoto asked, her lips almost pouting. "I'm so happy for you!"

'That's not some normal mushroom mother ate,' Sasuke thought, fighting the urge to back away. "Mum… I'm not in love," he said, getting slightly annoyed.

"Oh… Really?"

"Really," was the firm reply from the boy.

"But you look so lovely in these photos," the woman said with a sigh, looking down at the pieces of papers in her hands.

"… What photo…" Sasuke asked slowly, his voice bordering a dangerous tone. 'They can't be…'

Kaka showed him the pictures. His face turned blue, then red, then purple. "Who… sent these…" he nearly snarled and looked at the back of the package.

From: Yuki Hitsuka

Let the fun began.

Arriving at his destination, Sasuke half-tore the door down, his eyes flashing red on and off, the first sign of the infamous Sharingan. "Hitsuka…" he said in a deadly soft voice.

"… is not here," Naruto finished for the brunet, eating his cup ramen.

Sasuke growled and ran off after slamming the already abused door. 'Where is he!' After searching all of the most likely places where Hitsuka could be (library, book shops, weapon shop, etc.), he finally found the boy in their new Team 7 training ground. He was all readied to beat the other boy to a bloody pulp if he wasn't forced to stop by a kunai that went thudding in his path.

Jumping into a stance, which allowed him to both defend and attack at the same time, Sasuke looked around him. He could only see Hitsuka standing there before him, blindfolded. Then, as if a signal was given, all sorts of weapons rained down on the temporarily blind boy.

Any kind of warning died and withered away on Sasuke's tongue when he saw what Hitsuka was doing. He was dodging everything that was thrown at him without making any move to block them. Looking closely at the trees, the Uchiha boy could see many Hitsuka clones sitting there and aiming their weapons at who he assumed was the original one.

Hitsuka finally stopped when he found himself unable to move safely out of the path of the multiple of weapons. Catching a few kunais and shurikens in his hands and a handful of senbons between his lips, he avoided the rest of the larger missiles. "Alright! That's all for today," he yelled and a few pops accompanied by some smoke was his reply when all of his bunshins disappeared. "Sasuke? What are you doing here?"

Shaking himself out of the awe he got into, Sasuke summoned up the almost-lost rage to throw upon the gold-eyed boy. "Why did you send those ridiculous photos to my MUM!!!" he bellowed and flung a kunai at the other boy.

Grabbing it easily out from the air, Hitsuka twirled it around his finger. He perked up at the mention of his prized photos. "They're great, aren't they? I'm going to send some to Itachi-nii-san when I get the chance," he said happily and had to drop down on to fours when Sasuke decided that his head was the perfect shape for a soccer ball.

What followed after that was an intense sparring match between the two physically very different boys. While Sasuke had the advantage of having longer arms and legs from being considerably higher then the other boy, he, for some reason, cannot land a hit on Hitsuka. This was because where Sasuke was probably physically stronger; Hitsuka was more agile and fast.

Hitsuka blocked Sasuke's every attack and struck back but only softly. 'I have to get some new weights…' the white-haired boy thought with a mental sigh. 'A new and non-visible set of weights are always expensive. I can sell my old ones though.'

Sasuke, a bit angered by the fact that Hitsuka wasn't taking him seriously, grounded out, "Stop dodging and fight me!" He then blew a large fireball out from his mouth.

Surprised by this, Hitsuka's movement faltered momentarily but his hands automatically flew into a well-used sequence of seals. His body was suddenly replaced by a log which instantly burst into flame as it came in contact with the fireball.

Appearing somewhere else, Hitsuka stumbled on the uneven ground, giving Sasuke the chance to nick him on the arm with a flying shuriken. Back-flipping out of the other boy's attacking range quickly; he gazed down at the large rip on his sleeve. 'Oh man…' he moaned mentally, 'I hate sawing.'

Knowing that he really should stop teasing the brunet, Hitsuka carefully, and discretely, dropped the weights around his arms and wrists. If he had those on while punching with all his strength, there was a high chance of giving the boy a concussion and seriously hurting him. 'These weights are really useful,' he thought, grabbing Sasuke's fist that was coming towards his chin. 'They can both protect and train one's body and are great in attacking too!'

Unable to pull his hand back from Hitsuka's firm grip, Sasuke swiped at the other boy with his other hand. When that evaded, he opted to kick instead. It was then when he felt Hitsuka pulling him towards his left to unbalance him, he instantly shifted his weight on his right. He never expected Hitsuka to suddenly shove him to the right while swiping his feet with his (Hitsuka's) left foot. Therefore successfully throwing him to the ground. "Give up?" he heard the other boy asked and felt something cold pressed against his neck.

He sighed. "I give up."

"Now that was fun," Hitsuka said with a laugh and stood up, pocketing his kunai. He gave Sasuke a friendly helping hand.

"You're so mean!" Sasuke muttered childishly, patting his shorts to get rid of any clinging dirt. "And give me the film to those photos!"

Hitsuka smiled sweetly. "Yeah… no." After saying that, he crossed his fingers with both hands to form a cross and disappeared with a puff.

"A bunshin!" Sasuke cried out in surprised, then moaned. "When did he swap? Probably when he did the Kawarimi no jutsu…" As he walked away, muttering constantly under his breathe, he didn't notice a shadow detaching itself from the trees' shadows.

'That was quite a remarkable sparring match,' Kakashi thought, walking away like he didn't just spy on two of his students. 'Hitsuka actually swapped with a bunshin straight after he threw Sasuke to the ground and he remembered to pick his weights up too.' He leaned against one of the logs, which he was itching to tie someone, possibly Naruto, to yesterday, when something hard pressed against the small of his back. "What's this?"

It was a note addressed to him and it said: Spying on your students!? Tut, tut, Kakashi-sensei. See you tomorrow. Hitsuka

Kakashi threw his head back and, even though his head was throbbing from where he hit himself on the log (when he threw his head back), laughed heartily. "Good one, Hitsuka."

_The next day_

It was finally their first, ever, mission. It was oh-so exciting! Their FIRST mission! And it was… it was…

Weeding a garden. Very important. !cough!cough!

'No doubt someone was going to complain,' Hitsuka thought and gave a mental count down. 'Three, two, one…'

"Kakashi-sensei! Why are we doing this?" Naruto whined, almost disgustingly high-pitched. "Why AM I doing this?"

"Because this is our mission," Kakashi said patiently from his place underneath the shadows cast by a large tree, reading his book. "Go weed the grass like your team mates."

Naruto threw a handful of grass at his teacher. When that 'deadly' missile flopped pathetically onto the ground, he gave the man the one finger salute instead. He heaved out a sigh when Kakashi merely ignored him and dutifully went back to his bit of the garden.

"Think of this as a training exercise," Hitsuka suggested. When three confused faces looked at him, he elaborated, ticking off his fingers, "This can test your patience, you endurance and your accuracy in pulling out the right plants."

The other three nodded their heads in understanding, and, with this suggestion in mind, they went back to work with new interest.

_Approximately 30 minutes later_

Brushing his pants, Hitsuka stood up and surveyed his finished work. Grinning happily when no weed came into his sight, he plopped himself down beside Kakashi and pulled a book out to read for he was the first one to finish and had no one to talk to other than his teacher, who was… currently occupied.

"Have you already finished?" Sasuke asked and looked down at his three-quarter done work. 'Damn.'

"I didn't spend all that time minding my own medical herbs garden for nothing," was the reply from the white-haired boy.

Listening to the short conversation, Kakashi quietly filed this information away for possible future use. Sakura's interested eyes didn't go unnoticed either.

"Hitsuka…" Naruto started, his eyes wide open in his ultimate attack: puppy-dog eyes. This failed when Hitsuka simply turned his body away and stuffed the earphones of his walkman into his ears. It was as if he was saying, "I can't see you, I can't hear you," in a singing voice.

Next to finish was the only girl in the team; Sakura. The reason being her constant contact with many plants from her many flower arrangement classes that were taught to all the potential kunoichis in the Academy. That and her sharp eyes in spotting almost everything in one glance.

She sat down next to Hitsuka and looked at her fingers that were covered in dirt and such. She sighed deeply. 'I'm in such a mess… and I'm sure Sasuke-kun doesn't like girls that are all dusty and dirty,' she thought, rubbing her fingers to get the dirt off. 'Is being on the same team that good?'

"Do you want to wash your hands?"

Sakura was startled out of her thoughts when a drink bottle appeared in front of her eyes. It was Hitsuka who asked, smiling. "Tha-Thanks," she replied gratefully, turning her body to one side so she wouldn't spray any water onto the others. 'He's so kind…' She looked up when she heard a commotion from where the last two working boys were.

Sasuke and Naruto were having a competition on who could finish before the other did. They constantly glared at each other, occasionally threw in one or two insults for good measure.

The girl sighed again. 'What can I do so Sasuke-kun's attention will be solely on me?' she asked herself. She grew her hair out when she learnt that Sasuke liked girls with long hair. She took extreme care with her hair, making it all shiny and silky. Same with her nails, her skin and her clothes. But, to tell the truth, she didn't think Sasuke ever looked at her and only her. 'Why?'

"Do you know why they are so close, such good friends?" Hitsuka asked, easily read what Sakura was thinking with the way she was looking at the pair.

Surprised, Sakura shook her head no. 'How did he know what I was thinking?'

Turning his head to look at whom he considered as brothers, Hitsuka smiled softly. "Although they often fight and bicker, they actually look after and trust each other because they know very well how strong the other is. The little competitions they always have are there to motivate them to become better," he said, almost to himself. He looked at Sakura and continued, "In a way, they look up to one another for the strength the other possesses. Both Naruto and Sasuke that is."

Sakura nodded slowly as her brain process this new piece of information. "So…" she started, "if I wish that Sasuke-kun to notice me more, I should become stronger so I can become his… team-mate. Someone that can help him. Someone he can trust to watch his back. Is that what you're saying?"

Hitsuka's grin was her reply. "You've got it," he said. "If you need help, feel free to ask me," he added, standing up as Sasuke and Naruto seemed to finish their job.

"FINISHED!" they yelled and glared at each other. Another yelling soon commenced.

'It was funny the first and second time, but this is really getting old,' Hitsuka thought, walking away with his teacher to report their job done at the HQ with Sakura following who occasionally threw a few worried glances over her shoulder at the squabbling boys. She didn't have to wait for long for them to catch up with the leaving group.

Their day ended with a few more dollars in their pockets and a "Job well done," from the Hokage. But for Sakura it was more than that. She had more to think about: her life as a kunoichi and her relationship with the rest of her team. It was time to change.

_One or two weeks later_

Naruto yelled as the screeching cat in his arms scratched him, "OW!!! Stop scratching – OUCH! – me, you STUPID CAT!"

'I'm glad I wasn't the one that caught it,' the three other people in the team thought with relief.

"WHY the hell does it want to run away!?" Naruto shouted, hold the cat at arm-length which didn't seem to lessen the ruthless attacks. "STOP IT!"

"Yeah…" Sakura agreed and winced as Naruto's face gained a few extra gashes.

"If you've met the Fire Country Lord's wife, you'll understand," Hitsuka said, feeling sorry for the cat. "Shijimi-sama's way of expressing her love for this cat is…" here he shrugged, "rather brutal."

Kakashi agreed for this was not the first time he saw other genin teams running after Tora the cat. 'Exactly my thought.'

Pitying his brother, Hitsuka looked around him and spotted a green plant with white flowers that were finely spotted with purple. Picking some, he called out to the cat, "Tora-chan, look what I've found."

Responding to its name, Tora turned its head and sniffed. Something drifted into its nose and it started to purred loudly, pawing in the direction of the now slightly crushed plant. It wriggled in Naruto's hands and slipped out when the boy's grip loosen slightly.

Naruto yelled and grabbed wildly at the cat but he was too late. Sasuke and Sakura shouted when they saw their target dropped onto the ground and was ready to pounce on it should it run. But it didn't run. It continued to purr and walked towards Hitsuka. Letting the boy to pick it up, it started to rub, lick and chew the plant in front of it. It was having the time of its life!

"What the…" the genins and jounin thought, watching the cat's strange behaviour.

"Catnips," Hitsuka said, offering a simple answer as he toyed with the cat with the said plant. "Cats like them." He then walked away quickly, knowing that the effect of catnips on the cat would only last for a few minutes. 'I can always give it back to Naruto,' he thought with a smirk.

_Konoha HQ_

"TORA-CHAN!" the Fire Country Lord's wife yelled, hugging and rubbing her cat with her powdered face. "Oh… I was so worried, Tora-chan!" she cried as her cat struggled to get free.

"NYAAAA!!!" it expressed its misery to the whole world but there was no helping hand reaching out to it. "NYAAA!!!"

'No wonder it ran away,' Sasuke and Sakura thought, finally understood what Hitsuka said earlier.

Naruto mentally laughed as he watched the cat in distress. 'In your face, you stupid cat.'

"Now, Kakashi's Team 7, your next duty is…" the Hokage said, looking at the list in his hand, "babysitting an elder's grandson, shopping in the neighbouring village and help with the potato digging."

Hearing this, Naruto instantly threw himself into a fit, yelling, "NO! NO! NO! No, thank you!" He formed a large 'X' with his arms to emphasise. "I want to do a more incredible mission! Give us a better one!"

"I agree," Sasuke said, standing beside Naruto.

Kakashi sighed discreetly, 'It thought it was about time for this…'

"You idiots! You are just some rookies!" Iruka yelled, standing up from his place beside the Third. "Everyone starts off with the simple duties and work their way up!"

"But we keep getting the crappiest possible duties!" Naruto countered in an equally loud voice.

Kakashi hit Naruto on the head and said, "Be quiet you!"

The Third sighed and was about to launch himself into a lecture mode when Hitsuka spoke up, "Hokage-sama, I was wondering if you can give us an easy C-rank mission."

Chirp, chirp, went the birds outside as silence descended in the room.

Those who didn't know everything about Hitsuka was surprised that the white-haired boy was being so… blunt, for the lack of a better word. They thought he would listen and follow the orders of those that were superior, but now didn't seem to be the case.

But to those who knew Hitsuka's secrets, namely the Hokage, understood what Hitsuka was trying to say. 'Look underneath the underneath,' the great leader thought, then asked the team, "An easy one? Are you sure you can do it"

Naruto enthusiastically nodded hi head. Sasuke gave a look that said, "I AM an Uchiha, what do you think." Sakura looked a bit uncertain, concerning about her skilled when she remembered what Hitsuka said to her the other day. Wanting to become stronger, she, too, nodded her head. Kakashi was just amused by all these and he didn't need to say anything for he was, after all, a jounin.

And Hitsuka? He just smiled his usual smile.

The Hokage shrugged and consoled his list, ignoring Iruka's concerned warnings. "All right, if you want it that much," he said, looking subtly at Hitsuka. He saw a potential mission before the boy could do anything to hint him. "How about this… It's a protection mission of a certain individual."

Happy, Naruto cheered, "YAY!"

"Who is it?" Sasuke asked the important question.

Getting no rejection from Hitsuka, the Third said with a smile, "I'm about to introduce him." Turning towards the door, he called out, "Will you please come in?"

The door slid open with a hiss and a drunken voice slurred, "What's this? They're a bunch of super brats." Their new client burped and took a swig from the bottle he held in his hand. "Especially…" he continued, "the shortest one with the super stupid-looking face. Are you really a ninja? Huh?"

"Watch who you called stupid-looking," Naruto and Sasuke both yelled out at the same time, angry. They knew fully well who was the shortest one in the group; Hitsuka. Unknown to them, the drunken man didn't see Hitsuka and was talking about Naruto.

"What… it's true…" he said, grinning.

"I'll KILL you!" Naruto shouted and was going to when he was stopped by Kakashi.

"What's the point of killing the person we're supposed to protect? Idiot," Kakashi said good-naturally.

"Bu-but, he insulted Hitsuka!" the blond boy whined, twisting to get free. "It's rude!"

Hitsuka laughed and came into their client's view. "This is the first time anyone ever called me stupid-looking," he said and the man's eyes widened.

"Oh no, I didn't mean you," he explained, understanding why the two boys were so angry earlier. 'I think I would too, if I'm that boy's friend,' he thought and said, "I meant him." He pointed at Naruto.

"WHAT!?" Naruto screeched but no one was paying him any attention. They were too busy laughing.

Finally the man introduced himself, "I'm the super expert bridge builder, Tazuna. I expect you to provide me super protection until I get back to my country and complete the bridge."

In Naruto's and Sasuke's opinion, the man was down-right snotty and rude.

_At the Konoha gates_

After waiting for approximately 30 minutes for the leader of this group, Team 7 and its client were finally setting off. The group was a cheerful one, the atmosphere easy and happy.

Both Naruto and Sasuke walked in the front, talking to each other in hushed tones. Sakura, who was standing behind the boys, occasionally caught a few words when the wind blew in her direction. Words like, "weights… old, second-hand… training…" It didn't take a genius to work out what they were talking about; they were planning to buy weights for their trainings.

'Maybe, I should buy some, too, if I want to be stronger,' the girl thought, lifting her skinny arm up and tried to find her non-existence muscles. Not wanting to ask the boys in front of her for any information for they would know that she, however unintentionally, had been eavesdropping, she dropped back to walk with Hitsuka. "Hitsuka-kun…" she started, looking sideway at the reading boy.

"Yes, Sakura-san?" Hitsuka lifted his head up to meet the girl's eyes and snapped his book shut.

"I was wondering if you can tell me where I can get any weights," Sakura asked and hoped the boy knew the answer. 'What if he's just like me!?' she thought, horrified that she didn't think of it earlier. 'All books and nothing!? It can be true… he's skinny and probably has no muscles…'

Her face must had shown what she was thinking for Hitsuka said in a laughing tone, "Sakura-san, just to let you know, I study and train as well," she blushed, "and, yes, I do know where you can get weights from."

Sakura sighed with relief. "That's good 'cause I think my strength is my weakest point," she said, happy.

"You're right," Hitsuka agreed, and hurried to explained when he saw annoyance on the girl's face, "Your ability in understanding and remembering ne jutsus and your chakra control are all excellent, but you are lacking in you chakra reserve and body strength."

Listening carefully to the boy's analysis, Sakura was surprised that she was agreeing to him. "So… what should I do?" she asked, determined to become better.

"Well… start physical trainings, eat a healthy diet," Hitsuka answered, ticking a finger off one at a time, "and no more starving yourself because you need all the energy you can get to keep your body fit."

Sakura tapped her chin as she thought. "Does that mean I can eat and I won't get fat if I do enough training?"

Hitsuka nodded, "Yes." He was a bit startled when the girl did a loud cheer, her Inner self surfacing. 'Right…' he thought with a sweat-drop as Sakura did a little victory dance.

"Sakura, you look happy," Kakashi commented from behind and the said girl blushed lightly. He laughed and assured her that it was fine to do victory dances if she wanted but had to watch out for any danger, too, for they were on a mission. "But don't worry. There won't be any ninja combat in a C-rank mission," he said, smiling.

"Really! That's good," Sakura said happily and was relieved that they wouldn't come in contact with any foreign ninjas.

No one except Hitsuka, who knew what to look for, noticed the guilty expression on the bridge builder's face. 'Maybe this isn't such a good idea after all,' Tazuna thought, looking at his feet. 'They're so young and they might die!'

But Sasuke and Naruto disagreed. "Aw… that sucks," Naruto muttered with a pout.

"Yeah…" Sasuke agreed but appeared to be less childish then the blond.

"Why can't we get, like, a B-rank mission?" Naruto asked, turning around so he was waking backwards. "It'll be great! And, and, I can beat all these people up!" It was then he nearly stepped on a pool of puddle. "Oops," he muttered, jumping away just in time so his sandals wouldn't get wet. "That was close."

Kakashi glanced at the puddle with an uninterested eye and walked on. 'This is going to be interesting,' he thought, scratching his cloth-covered nose.

Silently, two people rose from the clear water, looking menacingly at the cheerful group. The one with the horn-like things on his forehead protector suddenly flew into the air, aiming at their biggest threat: the Copy Cat ninja. Having done this many times before to their poor target, the Kiri (Mist) shinobi wrapped the spiky chain around the silver-haired man in a blink of an eye.

"What!?" Kakashi cried in shock when his brain registered pain.

"Huh!" "What the-" these were the cries from the other members of the group.

"One down…" one of the Kiri ninjas muttered as they both pulled. Kakashi's eyes widened before his body was tore into many bloody pieced.

Sakura screamed while Naruto and Sasuke shouted, "Kakashi-sensei!"

"Two down…" Naruto heard from behind him and they were already with him as their next target. He watched as chains with his teachers blood started to from loops around him.

The two enemies watched as their next victim's face took on a scared look and they laughed in sadist delight. Well… until the boy smirked uncharacteristically. Feeling a yank on their arms, they turned to see that the brunet had pinned them securely to a tree. 'I'm trapped,' Meizu, the younger of the two brothers, thought. Then a foot went cramming into his face, snapping his neck to one side painfully. His brother got the same treatment.

Angry, the Demon Brothers twisted their arms to get rid of the chain but kept their dangerously sharp claws. Gozu, the elder of the brothers, ran to deal with the two male genins while his brother aimed for their main target: the old man.

'He's coming!' Sakura mentally prepared herself while she vowed to kill her teacher for lying earlier. "Sir! Get back!" she warned, pulling a kunai out in preparation to fight the on coming enemy.

Quickly stepping in front of his team-mate and client, Hitsuka deftly pushed aside the poisonous claws with his left hand and his right foot snapped up to kick the man's most vulnerable place.

Slightly off balanced, Meizu quickly dug his heels down to stop his family jewel from breaking. With this sudden stop, he was unable to avoid the two fists from crashing into his stomach. 'The kick was just a decoy!' he thought in surprise as air rushed out from his mouth. Bending forward as a reaction from the punch, he didn't see how the fists circled in the air before slamming into his temples, instantly knocking him out.

He never got the chance to see his older brother being defeated by two genins. Working almost perfectly together, Naruto and Sasuke soon had their opponent lying on the ground between them with few extra bruises and such. They grinned at each other and high-fived.

Sakura and Tazuna were awed. 'They're incredible…' they thought.

"Good job," Kakashi said, clapping his hands. "I didn't think you could handle them so well."

"Kakashi-sensei! You're alive," Sakura said, relieved that their teacher didn't die after taking them for only a few weeks. Remembering something, she sent a few kunais and added half a dozen of shurikens after some consideration.

Catching everything, Kakashi said in a confused voice, "What was that for?"

"For lying!" the girl fumed, pissed at being lied to. She didn't particularly like liars and think they should all have a good spank. "And for making us think you died."

Kakashi laughed but suddenly turned serious. "Tazuna-san…"

Startled at being addressed, Tazuna yelled out louder than he wanted, "What is it?"

"I need to talk to you."

After tying and reviving the Demon Brothers, Kakashi explained to his students who they were, "They look like Kiri chuunins… These shinobis are known to continue fighting no matter what."

"…How did you know we were there?" Meizu asked.

"On a sunny day like this when it hasn't rained in days, there's not going to be a puddle," Kakashi said.

Tazuna was surprised. "If you knew, why did you let the brats fight?" he asked. 'And scare the shit out of me when I thought I was going to die.'

"If I had wanted to I could have killed these two instantly but…" Kakashi looked sideway and continued, "There was something I needed to find out… Who these two were after."

Feigning confusion, Tazuna asked, "What do you mean?"

Although his eye had a lazy look, Kakashi's brain was definitely not. "Meaning… were they after you, or one of us. We haven't heard that there are shinobis after you. Our mission was to simply protect you from thieves or gangs."

"Does that mean this is now a B-rank mission," Naruto suddenly cut in, curious. When the man nodded, he gave a cheer and yelled, "Alright! Finally something interesting!"

"I'll say," Sasuke said, nodding his head. "We can now finally use our skills against others."

To say Kakashi was surprised was understandable. "There's a possibility that you could get killed in this mission," he tried to tell them but they had a determine look on their faces. He sighed. "Just to let you know, Tazuna-san, we still don't have to do anything for this mission would have been set as the more expensive B-rank and you only paid for a C-rank one."

Before Tazuna could protest, Hitsuka said, "Kakashi-sensei, Tazuna-san could always pay back later once the bridge is completed." Getting blank looks from his fellow team-mates, he explained about the bridge, "Wave Country is currently poor but it had not always been so. It was a wealthy country once with its shipping industry, but now… a man is controlling all business traffic, bending on taking control of Wave Country. His only obstacle is Tazuna-san."

"I see…" Sakura muttered with one hand under her chin. "Since you're building the bridge that could save the economy of Wave country, you're in the way…"

"Who's this man?" Sasuke asked, looking at Hitsuka.

"Gatou… from Gatou Company," the white-haired boy replied, easily saw the recognition in his teacher's eye.

"Really!? He's said to be one of the world's extremely wealthy people," he said.

"So these ninjas were hired by Gatou," Naruto understood. "And since the Wave Country is too poor for the expensive B-rank mission, you went for a C-rank one instead."

Tazuna nodded. "If you quit this mission now… I will definitely be killed," he whispered sadly. Then, in a happy tone, he cried, "But… Don't worry about it!!! If I die, my cute ten year old grandson will just cry for a few days! Oh yeah, and my daughter will live a sad life hating Konoha ninjas forever." He turned to look at the team and grinned, trying to assure them. "But it won't be your fault. Not at all!"

'The guilty tactic…' Kakashi thought as a gust of cold wind blew by. "Well. I guess we have no choice. We will protect you at lease until you get back to your country."

'I win,' the old man thought with his mental tongue poking out.

The children cheered, even Sakura, which was a surprise to Kakashi. 'I thought she would be protesting against this whole thing! Maybe talking with Hitsuka did help a bit,' he concluded.

_The Wave Country_

'If we get attack again, it will surely not be a chuunin, but a jounin level,' Kakashi thought with a tired sigh. 'I hope my team is up for it.'

Walking as quickly and quietly as possible, the group indeed moved at a fast pace. Tazuna was determined to get home as soon as possible to reassure his daughter. Glad to have this team with him, he watched as the blond and the brunet kept an eye on the surroundings.

Their eyes suddenly shifted to a small bush on the side. Its leaves moved a bit. Readied to throw something like a shuriken, they were forced to stop when Hitsuka went around the bush. "Hitsuka!" they hissed, worried that there might be hidden enemies.

Hitsuka waved, smiling, and came back with a snow-white rabbit in his arms. "Aww… it's so cute!" Sakura breathed, scratching the creature behind its ear. The atmosphere relaxed slightly but Kakashi was the opposite.

'This is a rabbit that's been kept in a cage for the purpose of body switching,' he thought, looking around him. 'So they're here already…'

'I see…' the hidden man in the tree thought, his eyes trained on silver-haired man, 'no wonder the Demon Brothers didn't stand a chance. Konoha's Copy Cat Ninja: Hatake Kakashi.'

The man didn't know that it wasn't Kakashi who defeated the two brothers but this minor didn't matter anyway. He was ready to take on his current enemy.

Sensing the air current changing, Kakashi yelled out in warning, "Everyone, get down!" He instantly ducked himself. Sasuke and Hitsuka pushed Tazuna down, who was unprepared and was winded. Sakura and Naruto were nimble enough to dodge the large flying object.

With a thump, the UFO cut into a tree and stopped spinning. Before anyone realized it was a zanbatou, a topless man landed on its handle. The black-haired man's head turned and looked coldly down at the group.

"Well, well, if it isn't Kiri's missing nin Momochi Zabuza-kun," the one-eyed ninja said seriously. "Everyone get back, this one's on a whole different level." He lifted his arm and placed it on his forehead protector to ready to, for the first time in front of his team, reveal his other eye.

"You appear to be Sharingan Kakashi," Zabuza said, his voice a bit muffled by the cloth wrapped around the lower half of his face. "Sorry, but… the old man is mine."

'Sharingan! How's that possible?' Sasuke and Naruto, who was close to the Uchiha family so he knew, thought at the same time.

"Surround and protect Tazuna-san," Kakashi commanded. "Do NOT enter the fight. This is teamwork here." He finally lifted his forehead protector. "Zabuza, first…" the Sharingan, "you fight me."

'It is the Sharingan!' the two boys thought in shock. 'How did he get it!?'

"Ah… I already get to see the famous Sharingan. I'm honoured," Zabuza said but he was not being sarcastic. He really thought Kakashi was strong, that was why the man was in his 'handbook' from his time as a member of Kiri's assassin team.

They talked, for a while, about how famous Kakashi was as the Copy Cat ninja who copied over a thousand jutsus with his 'eye'. Deciding the pleasantry was over; Zabuza tensed his muscles and said, "Now… let's end all the talking. I have to kill that old man."

Shocked and afraid, Tazuna took a small step. He was relieved when he saw the four genins jumped into position to protect him from all angles.

Zabuza wasn't finished, "But… Kakashi, it seems I have to beat you first." Waiting for no response from his obstacle, he pushed off from the tree, taking his large weapon with him, and landed on top of the small lake. He raised his left arm and kept his right close. He formed a hand seal.

'He's releasing a high amount of chakra,' Kakashi thought and prepared himself.

"Ninpou: Kiri Gakure no Jutsu (Hiding Mist no Jutsu)," Zabuza murmured, revealing the technique he was using. Then, in the midst of circling water and leaves, he simply disappeared.

Gone.

"He's gone!" Sakura cried out in surprise.

"He'll come after me first," Kakashi said gravely. "Momochi Zabuza… as a member of Kirigakure (Hidden Mist), he was known as an expert in silent killing. You don't even notice until you're already dead… It's not like I can use the Sharingan perfectly. You guys be careful," he cautioned.

His team gulped.

Noticing something, Naruto said alarmingly, "The mist is getting thicker!"

Then from the mist, a voice rang out from everywhere around them, "Eight choices…"

"What!?" Sakura cried out.

The voice continued, "Liver, lungs, spine, clavicle vein, neck vein, brain, kidneys, heart. Which one should I go after?"

Then, as if he saw something, Kakashi formed a hand seal which Hitsuka saw. 'It's starting…' the boy thought. 'And here comes the killing intent.'

And he was right. The large amount of killing intent almost rendered everyone useless with the exception of Kakashi and Hitsuka, both which gained their resistance during their more dangerous missions.

Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura were obvious not coping too well. Each hoped they could just die and get over with it. This was when Kakashi decided to encourage them, "Don't worry, I'll protect you guys even if it kills me." He turned his head to look at them with his eyes smiling. "I don't let my comrades die."

The genins faces blushed in a he's-oh-so-cool way, admiring their teacher.

"We'll see about that!"

Suddenly, Zabuza was in the tight circle they formed, surprising everyone but Hitsuka who knew what was going to happen and felt the man, too. "It's over," the dangerous man muttered and swung his sword. He attempt was rather unsuccessful. First, his sword was blocked by the white-haired brat and, second, he was stabbed in the stomach by Kakashi who managed to push everyone out of the harm's way. He smirked and collapsed into a pool of water. It was a mizu bunshin (water clone). The original one swung the large zanbatou.

"Sensei! Behind you!" Naruto yelled urgently but he was too late. Kakashi was chopped in half. Sakura screamed.

Kakashi, too, collapsed into water. "Don't move," he said in his menacing voice. "It's over." His students cheered in the background.

Zabuza chuckled. "It's over? You don't get it," he said. "There's no way you can defeat me with your monkey-like imitation." He went on talking while Kakashi remained silent, readied to end the man's life if the need rose. "But… I'm also not that easy…"

Kakashi's eyes widened in surprise when the water clone in front of him caved in, and instantly ducked to avoid the blade that came close to decapitate him. He, however, wasn't fast enough to block the kick. He threw down some makibishis before he made an unwanted entry into the lake.

"Foolish." Zabuza smirked and disappeared. He then trapped the silver-haired man in his Suirou no Jutsu (Water Prison no Jutsu). "It makes things tougher if you're free," he said, acknowledging the man's strength. "We can finish things later. First, I'll take care of them."

'He's stronger then I expected,' Kakashi thought, worried for the safety of his students but was unable to escape the water prison.

"Wearing forehead protectors and acting like real ninjas… But you know what? A real ninja is someone who has survived numerous brushes with death," Zabuza's water clone taunted the frightened genins. "Once you're good enough to be listed in my handbook, then you can start calling yourself a ninja… You guys should not be referred to as ninjas." Making a hand seal, he disappeared again.

Naruto's body was tense as he looked everywhere around him. Sensing the man in front of him, his eyes widened. He was fast enough to dodge the kick only if his body wasn't paralyzed. Mentally braced him for the attack, he waited.

Thud.

"Naruto, go and protect Tazuna-san," Hitsuka said, his armed formed a cross to stop the leg.

"You again," Zabuza growled, slightly annoyed. "Just a brat…"

"Who blocked your kick," the white-haired boy said, smiling.

Zabuza's non-existence eyebrows twitched as he pulled his leg back. 'This boy… he reminds me of someone, especially his smile.'

Whoa, the first person not to get Hitsuka's gender wrong. Probably because he got used to Haku. Hitsuka would (sort-of) love him if he could hear the man's thoughts now.

"You guys!" Kakashi yelled, his tone frantic, "take Tazuna-san and run! You have chance of beating him! As long as he's keeping me trapped in the prison, he can't move. The mizu bunshin cannot go very far from his original. Just run away NOW!"

'Un-huh, wrong choice of words,' Hitsuka thought, still amazed by how nearly everything was following the original story. But this time, Naruto and Sasuke were not the same Naruto and Sasuke in the manga. 'As long they don't get themselves killed.'

"Who's gonna run away!" Naruto yelled and Sasuke growled. They drew out their weapons and glared at the clone who withdrew his leg from Hitsuka a while ago.

The original laughed. "You!? A bunch of brats? You must be joking," he said.

"Well, a mizu bunshin has only one tenth of the user's strength," Hitsuka said, being the jutsus encyclopaedia that he was. "We should be fine."

Shocked at how his team was disobeying him, he couldn't help but think, 'This is bad.' He yelled out again, "What are you doing!? RUN AWAY! This fight was over the moment I was caught!" The kids' faces were stubborn so he tried another tactic, "Our duty is to protect Tazuna-san! Did you guys forget that!?"

"Old man…" Naruto said uncertainly, looking back at the man.

Tazuna nodded. "I'll be fine. Fight as much as you much."

"You hear that?" Sasuke muttered with a smirk, facing his current foe.

"Yeah," Naruto replied, grinning, "are you already?"

Hearing this, Zabuza started laughing madly. "You guys will never grow up," he said, "Going to keep on playing 'ninja', eh?" He lifted up his right hand and looked at it, seeing something the others could not see. "When I was your age, these hands were already dyed red with blood," he whispered in a haunting voice, eyes wide like a crazy man.

The Team 7 and the bridge builder gulped.

"Kirigakure no Kijin (Demon of the Hidden Mist)…" Kakashi muttered, glaring at the man on the other side of the prison.

"Ah… So you've heard a little about it."

"What is he talking about?" Sakura asked in a quiet voice that trembled slightly.

Hitsuka looked at her then gave her a sad smile as if trying to protect the 'kids' from the harsh truth but knew he couldn't. "Many years ago, the Kirigakure's graduation exam for academy's student is not as… innocent as Konohagakure's," he started, ignoring Zabuza's surprised look. "Students who are friends and comrades are forced to fight each other until the other one is dead." Here he paused and turned to look at the original Zabuza.

'He even knows that?' the eyebrow-less man thought in surprise.

"This rule was forced to change ten years ago, however. This was because… a devil appeared in the previous year," Hitsuka continued.

"Change?" Sakura asked again. "What change? What did this devil do?"

Kakashi went on with the story from here, "Without hesitation or pause, a young boy who was not even a ninja had killed over a hundred of the academy students."

Eyes curled into crescents, Zabuza said, "That… was fun."

The three boys suddenly jumped into their defensive position when the mad man's killing intent was directed on them.

This, however, provided no protection for Zabuza was already inside their tiny circle and punched Sasuke before slamming him down on the ground. The boy coughed up blood and laid there in a slight daze. "Die," the Demon snarled.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled out in worry. 'Can I help him? No, I'm not strong enough. Why!? You weakling…'

'Damn it!!' Naruto thought and crossed his fingers. 'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!'

Zabuza was impressed. "Kage Bunshins… and a large amount…" he mumbled to himself.

Grabbing a kunai each, Naruto and his clones rushed at their enemy. "Ah!!!" they yelled when they were thrown back by the large zanbatou's swings. The clones disappeared with their own puffs of smoke.

The poor bridge builder was seeing his own life flashing across his eyes. 'I'll die here today,' he thought, looking upward as if he could see the opening in the clouds where the entrance to the other side is.

A plan forming in his mind, Naruto quickly pulled out a fuma shuriken and threw it to Sasuke. "Sasuke!" he yelled to get the boy's attention.

Grabbing the item out from the air, Sasuke immediately understood what Naruto's plan was from working with him for such a long time. 'Good thinking, Naruto.' Spreading the shuriken out, he stood up with the weapon held in front of him. "Kage Shuriken no Jutsu," he muttered before he leapt into the air and threw.

The mizu clone looked up and said, "A shuriken won't work against me." Judging the angle, he discovered that the boy aimed the weapon at the original body, he moved to intercept it. He was forced to duck when several kunais was thrown at him.

"I won't let you," Hitsuka said, his face set into a slight frown. He threw more projectiles at the man when he tried to move again.

By that time, Zabuza could no longer stop the fuma shuriken. Growling, he jumped towards the boy who had been constantly his obstacle. Grinning as he run the boy through with his zanbatou, he was then shocked as Hitsuka's body fade away. 'It's an after image!' he thought before he was cut in half from behind where Hitsuka now stood. He collapsed into a puddle of water.

'That's finished,' Hitsuka thought, 'and Naruto and Sasuke should've finished their part, too.' True to his words, Kakashi was now free from the water prison with an angry Zabuza standing over him.

"Naruto, great plan…" Kakashi complimented. "You guys have grown up." Naruto and Sasuke both grinned.

Zabuza sniffed and said, "I got distracted and released the jutsu."

Looking dangerously at the man, Kakashi corrected him, "Wrong, you were forced to release it."

The two men suddenly sprung apart and started to fight each other. Zabuza's hands worked furiously as they created hand seals after hand seals. Not doing too bad himself, Kakashi copied every hand seals as well.

This resulted in two large water dragons going at each other with such a force that the earth trembled. Equal in their strength, both dragons disappeared but not before leaving their marks on their surrounding area.

Still going at each other, neither Kakashi nor Zabuza was willing to back. But Zabuza was confused by how Kakashi was able to copy his jutsu in time to release it at the same time as he did. 'What's going on?' he thought.

Surprised by just how big the destruction the two men brought, Hitsuka quickly told the others to climb on a tree and hold on. Naruto and Sakura followed the order swiftly, leaving Sasuke and Hitsuka to heave the drunken old man up a strong tree. Giving Sasuke a nod, Hitsuka chose to stay with their client while the brunet went off to find another tree to perch onto.

He was just in time for a split-second later, Kakashi released the Daibakufu no Jutsu (Water Explosion no Jutsu) on Zabuza.

'Sensei is pretty confident that we'll keep ourselves alive,' Sasuke thought as he held the branch he was on more tightly.

"Guh!" Zabuza groaned from the pain he was experiencing. To add salt to the wound, Kakashi had thrown several kunais at him as well. "How? Can you see the future?" he asked the man on the tree branch above him.

"Yeah… and you're going to die," Kakashi answered coldly and brought up a kunai.

Just as he was going to kill the missing-nin, two senbons found themselves pierced deep inside Zabuza's neck.

Eyes wide in surprise, Zabuza fell forward, face-first, into the dirt. He was dead.

A soft laughter flowed into their ears.

"You're right," a boy with a strange mask said from his place on the tree, "he's dead."

Kakashi frowned. He teleported down to where the body was and attempted to find a pulse. 'He's really dead,' he thought and looked up at the boy.

"Thank you very much," the mysterious boy said politely, bowing slightly. "I have been searching for the opportunity to kill Zabuza for a long time."

"That mask… you're a Kirigakure hunter-nin…" Kakashi stated. It wasn't a question, he knew.

Staying in his half-bowing position, the hunter-nin said in an amazed voice, "Impressive, you're correct."

'Judging from his voice and height, he's probably not much older than the Team 7… yet he's a hunter-nin…' Kakashi thought, him, too, was impressed. 'He's not a normal kid.'

Naruto was annoyed, Hitsuka could see that, yet the blond made no indication that he was going to yell and complain. 'Naruto has grown up,' Hitsuka thought happily. For him, Naruto was like his own child that he watched over and technically he was old enough to actually have children, just not ones as old as Naruto. (2)

Seeing no disagreement of his identity, the hunter-nin teleported down the tree in a swirl of wind and leaves. Hauling the dead man's body up, he said to the others, "Your battle is now over… and now I must disposed of this body since it seems to be a body with many secrets."

He was readied to go when a voice stopped him, "Hunter-nin-san…" He turned to look at the white-haired boy who proved to be more of a difficult obstacle than he appeared to be. The boy gave him a smile.

"Aren't you supposed to dispose the body where it was killed?" Hitsuka asked but he made no move to stop Haku. 'Later… he'll be a great help to both Sasuke and Naruto.'

Haku's eyes widen under his mask. 'Oops, someone's mind works fast in this group,' he thought then did a hand seal. With a swirl, he was out of the clearing with Zabuza-san.

Kakashi swore under his breathe. 'Ah well, I can't really stop him with the state my body's in-' He was unconscious before he was able to finish his thought.

"Kakashi-sensei!" the genin trio yelled out in surprise when their teacher collapsed.

Crouching down, Hitsuka pushed Kakashi's forehead-protective down to cover his Sharingan. "Don't worry, he's just tired from using his Sharingan too much," he assured the others.

Tazuna blinked then started to laugh. "Super thanks, guys! Come over to my house and relax for a while."

"Great!" Naruto said then created some Kage Bunshin to carry Kakashi.

_A while later_

It was a simply yet beautiful building on top of the lake. Although it was a two storeys house, it wasn't what one could call big but it gives off a homey feeling. The Konohagakure residents were welcome there.

"Are you alright, sensei?" Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami asked, concerned.

"Yeah… I just can't move for a week or so," Kakashi replied in a bored voice; he was back to his old self again.

"But that's alright, right? You defeated that super strong ninja, right?" Tazuna said, relieved.

"But what exactly is a hunter-nin?" Sakura asked and her question was answered by Kakashi. But Sasuke, Naruto and Hitsuka weren't listening.

Sasuke and Naruto were discussing what Hitsuka said before the pretend hunter-nin ran off.

As for Hitsuka, well, he was reading, again.

"What are you two talking about?" Kakashi asked the whispering boys.

Giving a look to each other, Naruto spoke up first, "What Hitsuka said."

"About?"

"About how hunter-nins were supposed to dispose the bodies where they were killed," this time, it was Sasuke.

Kakashi's face took on a look of surprise. He turned to look at the white-haired boy. 'He's right, how could I've forgotten?' he thought, beating himself over his mistake.

"What are you guys talking about?" Sakura almost growled in annoyance.

"Sakura-san, you're smart. You can figure it out," Hitsuka said, smiling again as he took out his medic kit.

Running through what she had read over the years on ninjas, ranks and what her sensei just told her about hunter-nins. Click, her mind went. She finally understood. "Zabuza is still alive," she said and nearly laughed because of Tazuna's face expression if it wasn't for the tense atmosphere.

"And that hunter-nin is his accomplice," Sasuke added.

Naruto shook in excitement. 'This is fabulous!' he thought and could not stop grinning.

Kakashi sighed. 'Sasuke and Naruto are excited by the fact Zabuza is still alive. Sakura is worried but is also determined. Hitsuka… he's still as mysterious as ever,' he thought. "You guys will be getting some training," he suddenly said.

There weren't a lot of reactions. Basically, every genins were looking forward to their training. They were ready to become stronger, strong enough to keep their heads when in present of large killing-intent.

Although eager, Sakura was still worried. "But sensei," she said, looking anxious, "if Zabuza is still alive, won't he attack at anytime?"

"Don't worry about that," Kakashi replied and the girl sighed in relief. "If a person is put into a temporarily deaf, it'll take a while for his or her body to return to normal."

"So we can train until then! Sounds like fun!" Naruto cheered, his hands all balled up in his excitement.

"That's not fun…" a voice commented from the doorway. The genins turned to see a young boy who would be Tazuna's grandson.

"Oh! Inari! Where were you?" Tazuna shouted, confirming the Konoha residents' guess.

The boy toed his sandals off while returning the old man's greeting, "Welcome back, grandpa…"

Frowning lightly, Tsunami gently chid her son, "Inari, say hello to these people. They are the ninjas who protected grandpa."

Staring intently at the 'ninjas' who were kids like him, Inari finally said slowly, "Mum… they are going to die…"

Surprised by this 'greeting', Naruto yelled out in anger, "What did you SAY, you little-"

Looking down gloomily, Inari grumbled out, "There's no way you can win against Gatou…"

Knowing what was on his cute grandson's mind, Tazuna said nothing to defend the boy's words.

"Calm down Naruto," Hitsuka said, grinding up the herbs he brought with him that could help Kakashi's body to replenish the much needed chakra and strength.

Immediately, Naruto sat down like an obedient puppy even though he was still fuming. It was not everyday that someone would give you one look and say you would die.

"Inari! Apologise to the guests now!" Tsunami said hurryingly. "They are here to help!"

Ignoring his mother, the boy turned away from the group and said over his shoulder, "You should leave if you don't want to die."

Concerned, Tazuna asked quickly, "Where are you going, Inari?"

"To look at the ocean from my room." With that said, Inari left.

Both Tazuna and Tsunami sighed at the boy's behaviour. "Sorry about that," the old man offered weakly.

Kakashi looked thoughtful as the event unfolded slowly in front of him.

"Naruto, please don't annoy the boy. We don't know everything," Hitsuka spoke up again and gave the blue substance in the bowl a particular hard jab.

"But Hitsuka…" Naruto whined.

"I said no."

Naruto went off into a corner and mumbled darkly to himself. "Stupid… That little… He should…"

"Kakashi-sensei, please drink this." Hitsuka handed the man a glass filled with a bluish-green substance that didn't have much of a smell.

Kakashi started at the glass in his hands, a bit untrusting in the boy's skill. "Are you sure this is…" 'The colour is right,' he thought and sniffed, 'no smell… which is right, but…'

Smiling, Hitsuka said, "Kakashi-sensei, just to let you know, Tsunade-sama is my sensei, too."

'Eh!? That's news to me,' the silver-haired man thought. 'How come I was never told about this. One of my students is being taught by one of the Legendary Three.' He gulped and drank. 'I'm not dead… yet.'

"That wasn't too bad, was it?" Hitsuka said as if he was talking to a little kid. He busied himself in packing away his equipments while his teacher readied himself to start his pupils' trainings.

_Later in the morning_

"Okay, we'll start the training now," Kakashi said, leaning on his crutches.

"Yeah!" Naruto and Sasuke cheered enthusiastically while Sakura gave a weak version of it.

"We are going to work on you guys' chakra control."

Naruto's face instantly fell. From his experience of working with Hitsuka and the Hyuugas, he discovered that his chakra control wasn't exactly something that could save him in a tight situation. He could do hard jutsus such as the Kage Bunshin but it would be hard for him to make only one Bunshin now for he always released such a high amount of chakra.

"… And by wasting energy, you won't be able to fight as long. These kinds of weaknesses will hinder you during combat," Kakashi finished though Naruto was only listening with an ear. The boy knew his own weaknesses.

"So… what should we do?" he asked, scratching the back of his head.

Kakashi looked slightly evil as he replied, "Learn how to control it through very tough training."

The genins sweat-dropped in anxiety. "What are we going to do?" Sakura asked quietly.

"Hmm? Tree climbing!"

"Tree climbing!" Sakura repeated in a higher voice. A lot higher.

Expecting any sort of reaction from the three boys, Kakashi was disappointed. "Yeah… tree climbing," he agreed, nodded his head.

"Err… Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said, raising his hand slightly.

"Yeah?"

Naruto gave a look to both Hitsuka and Sasuke before Sasuke spoke up, "We know how to do it."

Kakashi's only visible eyebrow rose slightly. "Really? Care to show us?"

Sakura looked a bit excited in learning something new even though she didn't know what the point of the exercise was.

Choosing a tree each, Naruto yelled out before racing upwards, "The last one is a moron!"

In the mood for fun, like always, Sasuke raced up the tree as well. "You cheater!" he shouted after the blond.

Hitsuka scratched his head and walked instead of running. 'So… immature…"

They were climbing trees… without using their hands.

'…' went through both Kakashi and Sakura's mind.

It wasn't until Naruto and Sasuke raced down their own trees Kakashi asked, "Who taught you guys?" He was quite baffled for he was rather sure that no genin should be able to know this exercise, and to be able to do it? Well…

Sasuke replied first, "My father taught me a few years ago."

'As expected of an Uchiha…' Kakashi realised and knew he seriously underestimated his team. He turned to the other two and raised his eyebrow again.

"Hitsuka taught me when we were younger," Naruto said, pointing towards the said boy. "That was how we managed to pull off the Hokage Monument prank."

"That was you guys!" Sakura yelled. "My mum fainted when she saw it."

"Hitsuka, how did you know?" Kakashi asked the boy who was sitting on a tree branch, ignoring the rest of his team for now as they bantered about pranks and such.

Looking down at his teacher, Hitsuka said simply, "Books."

'But you started reading those books when you were three?' Kakashi asked mentally. Yes, he knew when the Monument was… redecorated and he also knew how old the boys were back then. 'This is… just too much,' he thought, messaging his temples. 'As far as I know, Hitsuka and Naruto grew up with only each other with Hitsuka being the 'mother'. So how come this boy is so mature?'

"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked when the man was too quiet for far too long.

Snapping out of whatever it was that his mind was in, Kakashi smiled. "So… now we only have Sakura to try, right?"

Sakura looked down, a bit embarrassed that she was only one that didn't know. "Can you please tell me what to do?" she asked her teacher.

"All right, but let's find a stream first," Kakashi replied, looking around him.

"Whatever for?" Naruto asked and was also looking around and spotted a tiny stream. "Kakashi-sensei, there!"

Walked towards the stream, Kakashi enquired, "Do you guys know how to walk on water? It's the next level of the chakra control exercise." He then walked onto the water surface.

Naruto and Sasuke shook their heads negative while Hitsuka nod his positive. The two boys that didn't know had an excited look on their faces.

"Eh!? How come you know but didn't tell me?" Naruto demanded, facing Hitsuka.

The white-haired boy sighed. "We haven't been training together for quite a while, remember?" he asked back and the blond blushed lightly. "You've got your own training exercises while I've got my own."

"I think you're just bluffing, trying to show off," Naruto muttered childishly even though he knew what he said was not true. He knew Hitsuka well enough to know that the boy didn't lie unless he absolutely had to.

Hitsuka knew that he knew this, too. With a I-give-up smile on his face, Hitsuka followed Kakashi and also walked onto the water like it was solid ground. "Now, are you satisfied?"

A few hanging jaws was his reply.

Kakashi scratched his head and said, "Well… I guess Hitsuka can teach Sakura the concept of tree climbing while I train Sasuke and Naruto. Is that fine with you guys?"

"Yes!"

"Then, let's get started."

This was how they spent the rest of their morning with Sakura easily completing the tree climbing exercise and the two boys soaking wet.

"Looks like Sakura has the best chakra control out of you three," Kakashi commented, praising the girl. "But you still lack in your stamina."

"How do I build it up, sensei?" Sakura asked, eager to know more.

Kakashi scratched his chin as he listed, "Mainly exercises, healthy diet and enough sleep. To speed things up, you can get weights and push yourself to the limit."

"Here, Sakura-san," Hitsuka said, handing over some weights that he took out from his bag. "I brought this because I thought you might need them."

"Thank you…" Sakura said gratefully as she strapped the weights around her ankles and wrists. "They aren't really that heavy," she added and did a few jump to prove that it indeed was too light for her.

Hitsuka smiled and explained, "Each weight weighs five kilograms so you're now twenty kilograms heavier. If you think they're light, wait until you start on your exercises."

Sakura huffed and chose not to believe the boy. "Yeah, right," she said and started to run around the clearing, following her teacher's instruction. She soon regretted her decision as her arms and legs felt heavier and heavier until she could no longer go on. Soon, she was leaning against a tree to catch her breathe.

She gave a tired chuckle when Naruto fell into the water again with a yell. It was then a thought suddenly occurred to her. 'It was Hitsuka-kun who lent me his weights and we're now in the Wave Country, so… he carried all these weights from Konoha to here! And he might have his own set on as well! Wow…'

Unknown to the girl, Hitsuka, in fact, only brought the set of weights Sakura had now, which was only a small fraction of what he usually had on. He, and the other boys, chose not to take any weights for these items could hinder them in critical situations which might lead to serious injuries.

After having another unwanted dip in the stream, Naruto finally yelled out in frustration, "Crap! Crap! CRAP!"

Sasuke hit him over the head which caused him to fall face first into the water for possibly the hundredth time that morning. "Shut up," the brunet muttered and was pulled over by Naruto. He landed next to the blond with another splash.

"This is not working," Naruto sighed then whined, "Hitsuka…"

Heaving out a sigh of his own, Hitsuka walked over and tried to explain the concept of water walking to the two boys. Interested, Sakura walked over to listen as well. After awhile of simple explanation and more demonstrations, the two boys and one girl started their second round of water dipping, well, first round for the girl.

Having nothing better to do, Hitsuka started practicing his taijutsu until Kakashi motioned him over. "Hitsuka, since you know all the basics, do you want to go and guard Tazuna-san on the bridge?"

Hitsuka shrugged and replied, "Sure, why not?"

And that was where he was until that afternoon. Having nothing better to do than sit around, he went to help the builders in completing the huge bridge. Being able to use his chakra to boost his strength, he was able to carry heavy things by himself that usually took at least four men to carry, and this impressed many people around him.

"Maybe we have hope," they muttered amongst themselves at the show of strength, "now there're people here to protect us."

'Is this Kakashi-sensei's intention?' Hitsuka thought as he piled the supplies next to one of the builders. 'Well… I just hope I'm giving people enough encouragement…'

"Hey, Tazuna. I've been doing a lot of thinking lately… Can I stop working on the bridge?" Giichi asked, regretting every word that he said.

'… Obviously not enough,' Hitsuka finished his thought and sighed.

Shocked and a little bit angry, Tazuna was unable to control the volume of his voice as he spoke, "Why is that!? This is so sudden!" He almost looked pleadingly. "Not you too…"

'I really can't help any more with people's fear of Gatou,' Hitsuka thought, hanging his head a bit.

Finally gave up in persuading the determined man, Tazuna turned to walk away. "Giichi, you don't have to come tomorrow," he threw over his shoulder, his voice dejected.

Giichi, the man who got what he wanted, hid his face as his conscience struggled in a pool of guiltiness. He quickly walked away, not meeting eyes with any of the other workers on bridge. 'Another one…' they all thought and sighed.

"Hitsuka! We'll have to go and get lunch!" Tazuna yelled, hiding his disappointment behind his forced cheerful voice. "Let's go and be home super fast!"

"Coming!"

Awhile later, they were all back at the old man's house. While the man lied on the tatami to rest, the boy took the grocery into the kitchen and helped Tsunami in making lunch much to the woman's delight.

"Hitsuka-kun, you are the guest!" she argued even though she secretly hoped the boy would stay. "You shouldn't work!"

"Nonsense, Tsunami-san. We live in your house and eat your food, of course I should help," Hitsuka replied, rolling up his sleeves so they wouldn't get wet as he washed the rice and vegetable.

It took them sometime to finish in preparing a dinner for seven people even though there were two cooks. But by the time they finished, there was a mouth-watering dinner on the table, ready for people to come in and eat. Just in time as well.

Dripping wet and shivering, Team 7 rushed in before the preparation of dinner was finished and aimed for the only bathroom in the house. A bit of argument and squabble later, which ended with Naruto and Sasuke twitching on the floor with a bump forming on their heads thanks to Sakura new found power, Sakura had the luxury of a hot shower first.

Feeling miserable and wet, Sasuke and Naruto sat outside the bathroom door licking their wounded prides and thought to themselves that they were 'letting' the lady go first.

It wasn't until half an hour later Sakura walked out, cheeks pink from the heat and hair just slightly dripping wet.

The two boys choked on their breathes at the sudden show of cuteness. 'Sa-Sakura-chan is dangerous right now!' they thought, then, 'What the hell! What's with the –chan thing!?'

"Boys, your turn," Sakura called out and bounced off towards the dinning area.

Rushing to get in first, the boys found themselves wedged together by the door frame. Another bit of squabble later, Naruto and Sasuke finally were able to get in to warm themselves up with some hot water.

At last, it was dinner time and they ate… and ate… and ate. Really, it was non-stop! They were starving from their intense training and constant struggling under water. They had proved the point that exercising in water used up more energy than on land.

'I expected this from Naruto and Sasuke but not Sakura-san,' Hitsuka thought as he chewed slowly, savouring his food.

"MORE!" the trio yelled, holding their bowls out. Not a second later, they turned their faces away from the table to…

"Hold it!" Hitsuka called out. "Don't hurl out your food!"

"Yeah… if you're going to throw up then you guys should stop eating," Kakashi commented.

"No… we have to eat," Sasuke said then gulped as he forced his stomach to still.

Naruto took his hand away from his mouth long enough to say, "Yeah, we have to eat no matter what," before the hand had to go back.

Sakura breathed in and out before adding more strongly than the blond, "Because we have to become stronger!"

"Yeah, but there's no need to waste the good food that Tazuna-san bought." 'When there are a lot of people out there that do not have any,' Hitsuka thought quietly to himself. There was no need to tell the others what he saw today, they didn't need to know.

The kids nodded their heads and ate slower this time. Unknown to Hitsuka, the white-haired boy had accidentally let his emotion shown in his eyes and the three genins had seen it. They knew the current state Wave Country was in so they understood.

Hitsuka left before Sakura could ask her question on the photo on the wall. He knew everything that was to be said there in the room so there was no need for him to be to hear it again. He, once again, went to sit on the roof. Unintentionally, he heard the boy cried. He sighed. 'He reminds me of Naruto when I first met him,' he thought sadly. 'I guess if you see your dad gets killed in front you do that to you…'

He sat there looking at the clouds above him as the boy's cry turned to sobs until he stopped, presumably fell asleep. Hearing a slam from below, Hitsuka looked over the edge of the roof to see Naruto and Sasuke running towards the little river they were at that morning. 'They could've just use the water around the house but I guess they don't want anyone to see them practice,' Hitsuka thought, smiling slightly.

"Sasuke-kun! Naruto! Wait for me!"

Surprised to see the bubblegum-pink-haired girl chasing after the boys, Hitsuka nearly rolled of the roof when he twisted his body around to watch. He scratched the back of his head and muttered quietly to himself, "I suppose Sakura-san really did listen to my advice."

"And such good advice it was," Kakashi said, sitting next to the boy and reading his book.

"Thanks, Kakashi-sensei…"

'He doesn't seem to be surprised by my presence…' Kakashi thought, pretending to read his err… book. 'Could it be… that he sensed me!? But I improved since the last time I followed him… and so should he.'

"Ne, Kakashi-sensei, do you think they'll stay out there all night?" Hitsuka asked, tilting his head slightly so he could see the man. "It'll be quite cold tonight and they're doing water exercise."

Rubbing his chin as he thought, Kakashi shrugged. "Naruto and Sasuke probably will but I'm not so sure about Sakura," he answered.

"I guess I'll have to go herb picking in the morning," the boy said and stood up. "Good night, sensei."

"Good night."

_In the morning_

Laughing quietly to himself at the memory of the three genins expressions when they found out that he was a boy, Haku walked slowly back towards the small hut he shared with Zabuza-san. He looked at the vegetation around him for signs of any helpful herbs that could be used since half of what he already had were slightly crushed as they were picked by Naruto and Sasuke.

'The girl was gentle though,' he thought, 'she can turn out to be a great medic-nin.'

"No, you can't eat that. Eat this," a patient voice drifted into his ears. Curious, he stopped to investigate.

After making sure he could not be seen, Haku peered around the tree he was hiding behind and saw the white-haired gir- boy with his rabbit. 'Usagi-chan…' the Kiri boy thought somewhat possessively. (3)

The said bunny suddenly lifted its tiny pink nose up, twitching madly as it tried to remember this new scent that it smelled. To it, the smell was familiar, almost like the fresh snow it lived on a few months ago. Now on all four, it hopped forward one step, readied to explore boldly, but was picked up by the boy that smelled a bit like a tree after it had been raining.

"Now, where do you think you're going?" Hitsuka asked and was surprised to get an answer when the rabbit pointed with its nose. "Well, I guess whoever is behind that tree should come out now."

Surprised at being addressed, since he had been hiding his presence and Kiri ninjas were known for their silent existence, Haku almost awkwardly stepped away from the tree.

Hitsuka smiled at the brunet. 'I knew it was Haku-san. Who else could've gotten a reaction such as this from the bunny?' he thought and put down the rabbit. Upon being set free, the rabbit took a little time getting its bearing before it hopped to its owner.

"Usagi-chan!" Haku welcomed the animal with opened arms and hugged it. He was glad to have the rabbit back alive and well. He had thought it had died during the fight between the two jounins when he could not find it afterwards. But now he had it safely in his arms! All thanks to this Konoha genin.

"I'm glad you've found your rabbit," Hitsuka said, happy he did something good.

"Thank you very much," Haku said, genuinely grateful. He then saw the small basket next to the boy and his interest grew. "Is that… herbs for medical reasons? Are you a doctor?" He paused a bit in his questioning, and then continued as if he didn't already know the answer, "Are you a ninja?"

Hitsuka replied with a smile, "Why, how do you know? I'm not wearing my forehead protector."

To Haku's horror, he realised he made this mistake and quickly answered, "Because you knew I was hiding before and, ah… ninjas are good at sensing people, right?" Seeing the boy's nod, he pushed onto another topic, "What kind of herbs are you collecting?"

"Ones for colds. I'm afraid my team mates may have caught one after their night out in the open," Hitsuka said and bent down to pick some more. "And yours? Herbs for… sore muscles and replenishing strength, I think."

"You can tell by just looking at them!?" Haku said in a slightly shocked voice. 'Is he a medic-nin? He sure sounds like one.'

"Here, I think this might help your patient." Hitsuka handed the other boy a herb that looked a bit like grass if it wasn't for its yellowish-green colour.

Confused for he had never used that kind of herb before, Haku asked, "What is it for? How do you use it?"

"Grind it up with herbs for replenishing strength. Mix the powder with water, which should be bluish-green with no smell and it should help the drinker to gain strength and chakra," Hitsuka explained in detail, giving Haku a clear picture.

"Really! Wow…" Haku breathed, then paused in his wonderment as he thought about how Hitsuka emphasised on the chakra part. 'Does he know? If he does, does it mean that this is a poison?'

Seeing the doubt in the boy's eyes, Hitsuka knew what he was thinking. Taking out his equipments from somewhere, he showed Haku as if he was demonstrating.

Despite his suspicion, Haku sat down to watch. Soon, there was a bowl full of the greenish-blue liquid that the white-haired boy had said it would be.

"Would you like to try?" Hitsuka asked, motioning to the bowl. See the hesitation, he smiled and picked it up. Taking a sip to prove that it was not poisonous, he offered it to Haku again.

Being the ex-hunter-nin, Haku specialist in observation. He could tell if someone was dying and could name the technique that killed this someone, might it be suffocation, stab wound, blood lost… or poison. Right now, he could tell the boy wasn't going to die anytime soon. 'Besides, why would he kill himself just to prove this drink to someone that he doesn't know?' With this firmly in mind, he took the bowl from Hitsuka's hand with a soft "thank you" and sipped.

He noted two things. One was that he wasn't dead yet therefore this wasn't poisonous. The other one was that he could feel his chakra and strength slow building up. 'This is very helpful for it doesn't boost one's chakra in bursts like soldier pills does, so it can be given to someone that is just resting!'

Hitsuka watched as Haku sat there, staring at the bowl in fascination, before he decided to go back. "Well, Haku-san, I hope I've been useful for you," he said and stood up. "You can return the bowl next time we see each other."

Haku nodded wordlessly. Then something that the boy said stood out in his mind. 'He said 'Haku-san' when I haven't told him my name!' he realised suddenly and lifted his head quickly when he heard his name again.

"Also, Haku-san, please give my regards to Zabuza-san."

Try as he might, Haku could no longer sense the boy he had no name of. 'Why is helping his enemies?' he puzzled. 'And how does he know my name?' He couldn't find any answer to his questions so he decided to go back and talk to Zabuza-san.

* * *

(1) Just in case you didn't understand all that he/she things, I'll explain – many people still think that Hitsuka is a girl and are in love with the 'girl'.

(2) Hitsuka's current 'spirit' age is 25.

(3) I'm not if I got it right but usagi is rabbit in Japanese. If I'm wrong, please tell me and give me the correct word.

I was going to finish this chapter with Team 7 done with their business in the Wave Country. But this chapter got too long so that'll be in the next chapter.

I apologise again for not updating any sooner. I had been very lazy, but I had to study for my school practice exams and practice my instrument for my music exam. Now I have to study again for my real school exam. I can just faint.

Enough complaining. I'll just apologise beforehand because I think my next chapter won't come out for awhile.


	19. Chapter 19

I hope you like this chapter; I think it's only okay. I may change bits of this in the future.

Very sorry about the wait, had some problems with what I wrote for the ending of this chapter.

Enjoy!

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

**Kyuubi talking**

-Shion talking-

Chapter nineteen

* * *

_Tazuna's house_

"ACHOO!" Sasuke sneezed uncharacteristically. "ACHOO!"

Sakura gave into a sneeze as well, just a bit quieter. Grabbing a tissue from the dinning table, she blew her nose on it.

Grinning, Naruto whirled around the two, showing them that he wasn't affected by their night time swimming lesson.

"Why ar-aren't you like us!" Sasuke asked, pinching his nose so he would stop sneezing for awhile but also making his voice a bit nasal. "This is just not fair!"

"I've never caught a cold or flu before!" Naruto said cheerful, a great contrast to the gloomy states his team mates were in.

Sakura's eyes widened. "Not even once?"

"Nope!"

Listening to their conversation, Kakashi thought, 'Probably because of Kyuubi…'

"I'm back…" They heard the familiar voice accompanied by the thud of the closing door.

"Hitsuka!" Sasuke half-yelled, half-sneezed. "Help!"

Chuckling lightly, Hitsuka said more to himself than to others, "Yes, yes. I knew this would happen." He quickly went to his pack to pull out another bowl to make up for the one he lent.

"Are you a medic-nin?" Sakura asked, unknowingly echoing the Kiri boy's words. She was slightly interested in medicine herself but was unable to know more as the Academy didn't have it as one of its courses. She did try to learn from the books she got out from the library but since medic jutsus and herbs had their own sections, she couldn't get a firm grasp on it. "Can you-" She was cut off by a sudden coughing fit.

"Hmm… Perhaps some cough syrup as well?" Hitsuka hummed to himself and answered the question, "I'm not one but I'm learning."

Getting her coughs under control, the girl attempted to ask her question again, "Can you teach me?"

Grinning, Hitsuka replied, "I thought you would never ask." So he told her what he was doing right now and the names and properties of the herbs he was using.

Sakura was surprised to find that whatever Hitsuka made was working for this was the first time she had tried the boy's products. Sasuke, being around Hitsuka far longer than Sakura, expected nothing less.

While this was happening, something caught Naruto's eyes. "Hitsuka, what's that shiny thing on your ear?" he asked, pointing at the said object. The other members of Team 7 leaned in to have a look.

It was a small gold loop pierced through the soft bone of the pale boy's right ear. It was the soft light that reflected off it that shone into Naruto's eyes. Hitsuka touched it. "It's a special earring," he said lightly.

"Special?" Naruto prompted eager for more information.

"It seals up half of my chakra," Hitsuka answered and stood up to put his things away.

"Why would you want to do that?" Sasuke asked, scratching his head in slight confusion. "Won't you always want your full chakra reserve when fighting?"

"Well… my unused half of chakra can be used when I've run out," the white-haired boy said over his shoulder. "Also, I can surprise my opponents when they think I've depleted my reserve. But the main reason is because now I'm no longer used to this amount of chakra, I can do the chakra control exercises again."

"I want one, too!" Naruto yelled childishly, jumping up and down. "I want one! I want one!"

"I don't think you can," Kakashi commented, nose deep in his book. "You can't even do the water-walking exercise yet!"

The sunny boy pouted. "I don't care!"

Ignoring the blond, Sakura asked Hitsuka, "How did you get it? I mean, I haven't read or heard anything about chakra sealing earrings before." She leaned forward and touched it before she could stop her own curiosity. She blushed heavily and sat back on her heels. "I-I'm sorry!"

Unaffected by the close contact, even when the girl's breath touched his face, Hitsuka smiled. 'If I'm affected, then I'm a paedophile. She's only 12, for goodness sakes!' he thought then answered, "I asked Hyuuga-sama and Hyuuga-san to help since their clan's Byakugan can see the inner coils system and chakra holes. By placing this earring with seals written on it directly on the chakra hole on my ear, it's able to seal away my chakra."

Sakura looked confused. "Inner coils system? Chakra holes?"

"What are they?" Naruto asked, finishing the girl's question.

Hitsuka stared blankly at the boy. "You practically grow up in the Hyuuga household with Hyuuga kids and you have no idea about what I just said?" he said disbelievingly. "You're joking right?"

When Naruto shook his head negative, Sasuke was afraid Hitsuka was going to faint.

Waving a hand almost dismissingly, Hitsuka uttered, "You can go and find out about it when we get back." With this idea firmly set, no amount of pleading from the three genins could budge his lips.

"What are you guy's plans today?" Kakashi asked, breaking the kids' concentration on interrogating Hitsuka.

"More training!" Naruto all but yelled. He was determined that one day he would get cool earrings just like Hitsuka. The other two tired genins merely groaned but nodded their heads in agreement. And that was how they spent their day, diving into the clear water like three elegant dolphins if it wasn't for the fact that they were suppose to 'walk' on the surface.

Kakashi stayed at the house to so some training of his own, which was doing push ups with only one finger and a few pieces of furniture on top of him. He had his book opened in front of him and pondered, 'How is it possible for him to get into that position while he is doing it with…'

Let us not contaminate our innocent minds with his thoughts.

Eager to get his bridge finished, Tazuna dragged Hitsuka out of the door without asking what the boy was going to do for the day. Sighing, Hitsuka let himself flopped behind the man who loved the word 'super'. "Cheap labour," he muttered to himself quietly and felt a wee bit satisfied.

They all met at the entrance to the house at the same time merely by coincidence. The sun had already gone down, leaving only its orange rays glowing in the sky. The greeted each other tiredly, the three dripping wet genins more so than the other two. But they were happy because they finally mastered the art of water walking. Determined to show off, Naruto jumped off the small bridge, followed by Sasuke then a hesitating Sakura, and glided on the surface of water.

Proud of his students, Kakashi told them exactly what he thought and three bright faced genins were his replies. In conclusion, it was a relatively good day.

"You guys are finally home," the stern woman said to the exhausted group. Tsunami took one look at them and sighed tiredly. "Go and have a bath first. I'll have dinner ready when you guys finished," she tossed over her should as she walked into the house and muttered darkly to herself, "I won't have any dirty people sitting at my dinner table."

Grinning, Naruto ran to get into the bathroom first but was somewhat stopped forcefully when Sasuke and Hitsuka jumped on top of him. "Sakura-san, please go first," the white-haired boy offered, his hand over Naruto's mouth to mute any protest.

Sakura smiled gratefully and scurried off to the place where she currently dubbed heaven. Exclaiming in delight when she discovered that Tsunami-san was kind enough to have the water readied for them. Quickly scrubbing herself clean, she giggled when she finally heard Naruto's protest.

"Hitsuka! Sasuke! You guys are so MEAN!" he yelled.

The girl could barely hear some sort of scuffling as she slowly sank into the pleasantly hot bath water. Sighing in content, she gave a happy shiver. Knowing that she shouldn't take too long, she let herself to have a few more minutes of luxury before she climbed out regretfully.

'I don't want to look like a prune anyway,' she told herself as she dressed quickly. 'Sasuke-kun won't like that.'

Looked like, even though the girl wanted to change, she still wasn't able to change the woman in her. Not that it was a bad thing, not changing that bit. After all, it would be hard to imagine Sakura behaving like Mitarashi Anko who had absolutely no concern what she was wearing was a bit… alright, a lot revealing.

Coming out of the bathroom, she waved to get the others' attention. While Naruto and Sasuke didn't seem to notice her because they were rolling on the ground fighting, Hitsuka nodded with a smile. Since the two boys were still busy, Hitsuka suggested Tazuna to go first.

Accepting the generous offer, Tazuna went into the bathroom. Sensing the hot water was cooling, he washed himself in record time and got into the tub. "Ahh…" he sighed happily, wiping his face with a damp towel as the heat of the water was still enough to make him sweat.

"AH! Hitsuka! You did it again!" Naruto yelled once more and the man heard heavy footsteps coming towards the bathroom. Eyes wide, Tazuna quickly got out and dried himself, fearing that the boy might barge in and see something that shouldn't be seen.

"NARUTO!"

Tazuna heard the white-haired boy yelled and the man sighed in relief when he heard a loud thump and more shouting. It was obvious that Hitsuka had stopped the blond by forcefully holding him down. 'Thank goodness,' the man thought, wiping his brow and then pulled the plug out from the tub. The now lukewarm water went down the hole with loud gurgling sound, creating a whirl pool. When the tub was finally empty, he re-plugged it and filled it again with hot water.

Then, finally, it was the three boys' turn. Naruto gave a whoop in delight and ran towards the bathroom, stripping as he went, not noticing Sakura's blushing face. Before he could go too far, a fist came out of nowhere and punched him into the humid room. Hitsuka, blushing himself because of the shame he was feeling (because of his charge), picked up the bits of clothing and followed the blond boy. He left the door open for Sasuke who rushed in, thinking he might share the same fate as Naruto if he wasn't fast enough for Hitsuka.

Kakashi sweat-dropped, lifting his head up from his literature long enough to see the 'show'. 'Looks like Tsunade-sama didn't only teach Hitsuka medic-jutsus,' he thought and shuddered slightly. 'Thank goodness the boy didn't use his freaky strength on me during the genins' exam.'

When the boys were clean, it was finally dinner time. Drooling slightly, everyone dug in and was asking for refills every so often. Tsunami was happy that her food were consumed at such a fast pace. Small chats filled the air with Tazuna boasting his almost-finished bridge and Tsunami chiding them for working too hard. Soon, the small group sat contently around the table, patting their slightly bulging stomach.

All except Inari.

Inari's anger grew as he watched the others joked around and were having fun. His fury was mainly directed at the four unsuspecting genins who were surely going to die. They were just children like him! They couldn't save this place and they would die in the process. Especially that joker! Naruto with his mope of blond hair and he was wearing orange! Which decent ninja would wear orange!

That boy reminded him so much of his dad. His grins… his promises… his smiles…

Suddenly noticing how the young boy was staring at him, Naruto lifted his head up from the table. "What? I know I'm good-looking but I don't swing that way," he asked, looking at Inari straight in the eyes.

"Why do you guys bother to try so hard!? No matter how hard you train, you're still no match for Gatou's men!" Inari yelled, tears rolling down his small face. He wasn't finished. He slammed his hands on to the table. "No matter what glorious claims you make or how hard you work, when facing the strong, the weak will only end up getting killed!"

Everyone was speechless as they carefully looked at the youngest member of the group. The Konoha residents were uncomfortable with this topic since they knew the boy had mixed them up with his father. Naruto snorted, tossing his previous joking mood aside. "Whatever kid… I'm not like you," he muttered, his face unreadable.

"I'd hate to be like you! You don't know anything about this country, yet you're being so nosy!" Inari shouted, insulting the five Konoha shinobis. "What the hell do you know about me!? I'm different from you! You're always clowning around and acting so cheerful, you don't know how hard life can be!" This time, he was addressing Naruto. He didn't know how wrong he was.

Naruto finally snapped. "So it's okay for you to pose as the star of a tragedy and cry all day?" he asked, slowly standing up. Inari looked a bit shocked at what he said. "You just keep on crying forever, you little sissy!" he snarled and was glaring down at the now trembling boy.

The room was stuffed with uncomfortable silence.

Naruto turned around and walked away. His back looked awfully lonely.

Sakura quickly stood up and was going to yell something when a hand stopped her. "But Hitsuka-kun…" she tried to argue but the said boy shook his head.

"Sakura-san," he started, attempting to smile but failed, "please don't do this to him…"

Walking out to follow his brother, Hitsuka heard Inari said softly, "What right does him have to scold me like that."

He fixed his stare on the small boy until he looked up. "Inari-kun, Naruto has every right to say what he said." He opened the door and continued, "You are not the only one who has the misfortune to grow up without a father."

The door was closed quietly behind the small figure.

_Later that night_

Eavesdropping on the conversation between Kakashi and Inari, Hitsuka was a bit surprised that he was dragged into it as well since he did grow up with no father this time. 'I guessed I did bring some attention to myself…' he thought, scratching his nose in slight embarrassment. He was very happy at how closely Kakashi watched his charges.

When Inari walked back into the house, leaving Kakashi behind, Hitsuka jumped off the roof to join the man. Since he didn't mask his presence, it was no surprise to him when the one-eyed man greeted him. "Good evening to you, too, Kakashi-sensei."

"I thought you're with Naruto," Kakashi wondered, looking lazily at the strange boy.

Hair glowing slightly under the soft light of the waning crescent moon, Hitsuka shook his head. "It's best to leave him alone for now." He paused then continued, "Thank you for talking to Inari-kun." (1)

Understood what the boy was saying, Kakashi nodded. "That's alright."

_The next morning_

"Let's super go!" Tazuna said, all excited. He had a feeling that he might be able to finish the bridge today. After all, he had five ninjas with him. 'Free labour!' he thought gleefully.

"Please take care!" Tsunami called out, waving at the departing group.

"Great! Finally some real work!" Naruto yelled, punching the air with his fists.

"Can't you be at least a bit quieter?" Sasuke mutter, looking too mature for someone his age.

Sakura's eyes morphed into pink love-hearts and her hands clasped in front of her. "Sasuke-kun, you're so cool!" she squealed, every bit the fan girl that she was. Sasuke turned his face slightly to hide his reddening cheeks.

Naruto frowned. "Bastard…"

Hitsuka blinked in confusion. 'Do both Sasuke and Naruto like Sakura-san?' he wondered. 'When did that happen?' He shrugged and wave goodbye to Tsunami.

There were walking down the worn path through the forest when Hitsuka 'noticed' something. "Kakashi-sensei, can you hear that?" he asked, pointing towards the trees.

Now pointed out, Kakashi's highly trained ears picked up sounds of struggling and labour breathing. Jumping onto a tree to have a clearer view of the ground below, he went to investigate. Two of his students followed him, leaving the rest behind to protect their client.

They soon found a wounded boar lying on its side, thrashing about. When it saw them, it tried to escape but failed. Instead it snarled and glared at them, its last defence.

'We're at least ten metres away from the path and Hitsuka had heard this beast from there?' Kakashi thought, trying not to be surprised by anything that the gold eyed boy did anymore.

Kneeling down by the boar, Hitsuka quickly inserted a senbon into its neck, causing Naruto to shout in surprise, "Hitsuka, what are you doing!"

"Just making it unconscious so it won't hurt itself anymore," Hitsuka replied, hands already working fast to heal the boar. "These are sword wounds," he said in surprised although it was just for the show. 'I can become an actor. Haha…'

"There are sword marks on the trees as well," Naruto muttered, "going towards the old man's house!"

Already knew this, Kakashi quickly formed a plan in his mind. "Naruto, go back to the house, fast. Hitsuka, come with me, we'll go to the bridge with the others," he barked out and the two genins snapped to attention.

"YES SIR!"

With Naruto going off in another direction, Kakashi and Hitsuka rushed to join the other three. 'We must finish this today… Zabuza,' the famous Copy Cat Ninja of Konohagakure thought grimly, even though his blood was boiling with excitement. You couldn't deny the man's pleasure in facing a strong opponent when the said man was one of the strongest.

_At the unnamed bridge_

Tazuna, Sasuke and Sakura were confused as to why they were rush to their destination with one of them missing. When they arrived, they were shocked to find the bridge workers lying on the ground, bleeding.

Tazuna ran forwards, breaking out from the tights group, and cradled one of the fallen men's head. "What happened?" he asked urgently.

The terrified man feebly raised his hand and touched Tazuna's. "A monster," he croaked, "a monster!"

Being in the only healer in the group, Hitsuka swiftly got to work. He had the others carried the wounded to one side where the coming battle could not touch them. 'And here comes the fog…' he thought, grabbing a roll of bandage from his bag. 'I'll leave everything to the others for now.'

"Long time no see, Kakashi," Zabuza's soft voice drifted into those of his preys' ear. "I see you're still with those brats…" here he chuckled, "he's shaking again, poor kid…"

All of sudden, many Zabuza water clones appeared in the midst of the tight group. Sasuke smirked. "I'm shaking from excitement," he stated and got to work at his teacher's command.

"Do it, Sasuke."

Whirling around with a kunai in both hands, Sasuke soon finished the clones off and was back at his original spot. A chibi Sasuke was doing a victory dance in his head, yelling, "Who's the greatest? I'm the greatest! Yeah!" The chibi paused and flexed his non-existent muscles (2) then started giggling madly.

Right…

Zabuza merely smirked under the bandage around his mouth as he watched the massacre of his clones. The mist faded slightly between him and the group. "Looks like a rival has appeared… eh, Haku?"

Standing right behind the man he admired the most, Haku replied in his soft voice, "It does indeed."

The two parties exchanged no words as they were too busy discussing each other within their own group. Suddenly, Haku disappeared in a swirl of leaves and wind as he aimed for his target: Sasuke. The pair swung their weapons and the fight had begun.

"Sakura, step in front of Tazuna-san and don't leave my side. We'll let Sasuke handle him," Kakashi said, confident in his students' skills.

Hitsuka watched, almost bored to tears as he had nothing to do right now. He had already fixed the wounded and even carried them off somewhere further from the now obvious dangerous area. 'Having the knowledge of what's going to happen can sometimes be annoying,' he thought and fought the urge to yawn. 'Oh look, something different!'

Unlike the manga, Sasuke was way faster for he had already mastered the art of water walking, putting Haku in a slight disadvantage. The Kiri boy had underestimated the brunet and had suffered a few blows to his body because of this. He coughed up some blood which spattered onto the inside of his mask. 'What!' he thought, feeling the sticky substance on his lips.

'But Sasuke is still not fast enough,' the white-haired boy thought, getting just a bit worried. 'Naruto is slow…'

Zabuza started to laugh. 'Haku is evil, giving the boy a feel of victory before striking him down,' he thought and said, "Haku, do you realize at the rate we'll be driven back?"

Standing up slowly from his position on the ground, Haku answered, "Yeah, we can't have that." A chill went through everyone as he activated his bloodline. 'Ninjutsu: Makyou Hyoushou (Demonic Ice Mirrors).'

'What's this jutsu?' Kakashi wondered in alarm.

Mirrors surrounded Sasuke in a prison-like fashion. The boy twisted around him in anxiety, eyes flicked backwards and forward as he mind pondered for strategies. So far, he came up with none for he didn't know what to expect.

Then, Haku stepped towards one of the mirror and melt into it, surprising those who had never seen this jutsu before. Image of Haku appeared on each mirror, all looking down at their prey.

"Damn it!" Kakashi muttered to himself and rushed to rescue his student. He, too, had fell into the trap of underestimating his opponents. He skidded to a stop when Zabuza appeared in front of him.

"Hey… your opponent is me," Zabuza said ominously, he then taunted with a smirk, "Against that jutsu, he's finished."

'What are these mirrors?' Sasuke asked himself, forcing himself not to panic and stay calm.

"Well, shall I begin?"

This was all the warning he got before pain erupted from every bit of his body. He screamed. "AHH!!!"

Hitsuka bit his lips, tasting blood. 'Not yet… not yet…' he thought, digging into the concrete ground with his fingers as if trying to stop himself from running to the poor boy. 'I thought I had prepared myself for this… obviously not enough.'

Concerned for the boy whom she loved, Sakura leaped and flung a kunai at the strange prison. "Sasuke-kun!" she cried, trying to catch the brunet's attention. Her plan of the heroic save fizzled out when Haku merely reached out and plucked the weapon from its course.

The Mizu boy was, however, forced out of the safety of his mirror when he wasn't able to stop the spinning shuriken coming at his face. He landed painful on the ground with a soft grunt, surprised.

A loud bang followed by a cloud of smoke drew everyone's attention. The Konoha ninjas knew who that could be and they sweat-dropped at how dramatic the blond was. 'That idiot…' Kakashi thought, frowning in defeat as he looked as if he was praying to which-ever higher being that was currently presented up there.

"You idiot!" Sasuke suddenly yelled. "You're late!"

Naruto blushed lightly and looked a bit embarrassed. "Well, it wasn't my fault that Inari needed a bit of encouragement," he muttered under his breath. He then struck a pose and yelled, "The main character of a story usually shows up in these types of situation and instantly kicks the enemy's ass!" He then face-planted when Hitsuka punched him on the head.

"You show off idiot," Hitsuka mumbled, face red.

'What an idiot…' Zabuza thought and launched a sudden attack on the unsuspecting two boys.

Pulling a kunai each, Naruto was surprised to see that his enemy, Haku, knocked the shurikens off their paths with his senbons while Hitsuka just stood there, staring.

"Zabuza-san, these kids are mine," Haku said softly, possibly defying the man for the first time. "Please let me fight them my own way."

"So you don't want me to interfere, Haku?" the eyebrow-less man questioned. "You're as soft as always…"

While all this was happening, Sasuke was planning an attack on the Kiri boy in his sharp mind. His brilliant plan was, however, shattered with the sudden appearance of Naruto beside him.

"Got a plan?" Naruto whispered, keeping his eyes on Haku therefore not noticing how a slow whirl wind was building up beside him and how Sasuke's eyes were now glowing a dangerous red.

"Hey! What with all that wind?" Naruto asked when a few chips of ice grazed his face. "Wow! Sasuke, you've got Sharin-" He then face-planted again.

Seeing the world with new perspective, Sasuke marvelled at what he could see. Every single movement from the others were still and their intention clear as day. He turned to look at the groaning mass called Naruto lying at his feet and he could see a ghost of image of where Naruto would next put his limbs.

Hitsuka was a bit surprised by this change of event. 'I guess the anger that Naruto had invoked was enough to bring out his Sharingan,' he reasoned, looking through the semi-transparent glass. 'I wonder what will happen now?'

Not noticing the change in the brunet, Haku merged with his mirror once again. He moved, confusing his enemies. He did noticed when he saw Sasuke's eyes, however slow it was, following him. His movement faltered slightly, giving Sasuke the chance to pinpoint him.

'There!' Pulling out a kunai swiftly, he lifted it up to throw it. But before he could let it fly, a voice spoke behind him.

"I'm here."

Popping a vein, Sasuke opted to blow a fire ball instead.

"It didn't do anything!" Naruto yelled, popping his own vein.

"You can't melt this ice with that level of fire," Haku calmly explained.

"Damn…"

Decided he had put off the inevitable, Haku launched his own attack. He winced slightly when the cries of his victims reached his ears. 'I wish I don't have to do this… but it's for Zabuza-san.'

Screaming in anger, Naruto sent out waves after waves of Kage no Bunshins, slowing depleting his inhumanly large chakra capacity. Even Hitsuka could not figure out why the boy kept on trying when this method wasn't working in the slightest. Sasuke, flanked by many Narutos, dodged as many attacks as he possibly could, eyes never stopped working.

This had last for a few minutes until the Kiri boy stopped to prepare himself for the 'final' attack. That was before Naruto grumbled in annoyance.

"Have you got use to his speed yet?"

Sasuke nodded in agreement. "Yeah, enough fooling around," he commented as if he hadn't just been doing nothing for the last ten minutes or more. He had been standing there and watched how Haku was moving. Now, he could almost predict where the boy would go.

Naruto glared at the pale boy. "What do you mean 'fooling around'!? Do you know how much I-"

"Shut up."

Naruto wanted to go off into a corner and sulk but was unable to do so due to the obvious reason. So he had to be happy with muttering darkly under his breath.

Haku watched in confusion as the two boys conversed in low tones, ending with the blond one's under-breath muttering. 'I'm aiming for critical areas yet he keeps dodging. He seems to be slowly learning to follow my movements…' he masked boy thought in slight confusion. "This boy can see something…'

Then, Sasuke lifted up his eyes to meet his. Soft brown met the red of Sharingan with two commas in the right one and one in the other. Haku would have stumbled if he could do so in his mirror.

"You won't be able to catch us anymore," Sasuke said confidently, shifting his feet to give him more balance.

"Is that so?" Haku asked from behind his mask. "Let's see if that is true." Aiming for Naruto for he knew that the blond could never catch his movement with his eyes, he was disappointed as Sasuke had predicted this and had pushed his comrade out of harm's way.

Helping each other, Naruto and Sasuke soon had Haku in a disadvantage. Sasuke was in charge of protecting them both and stopping Haku in his track while Naruto's job was fairly simple; attack the Mizu boy when the chance arose.

Hitsuka stood on the side and grinned at their rapid improvement. 'I'll need to prepare myself for the next phase…' he thought.

'I can't fight much longer…' Haku thought, already feeling the strain of holding his ultimate jutsu up for so long. Then, something unexpected happened, his knees buckled under his weight. 'What…!?' Seizing this opportunity, Sasuke swept the boy's feet from underneath him. Haku smashed into the ground with such a force that temporarily stunned him. This was his fatal mistake.

"Naruto! Finish him off!" Sasuke yelled.

"HIYA!!!" Naruto yelled, pinning Haku to the ground with his knees and aimed a punch at the boy's face, determined to crack that stupid mask. Only to be stopped by Hitsuka.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked in surprise, coming up from behind the boy. Haku was thinking the exact question.

Hitsuka smiled in reply and gently took the mask off from the trapped boy who offered no resistant. "Well… Haku-san isn't really our enemy."

Blinking owlishly, the three boys looked at him. Almost hesitantly, Haku said, "I've been trying to kill your friends and you said I'm not your enemy?"

"If you had been trying to be the heartless ninja you said you are, you would've finished them ages ago," the white-haired boy explained, easing Naruto aside. "You've been too soft."

"Are you saying that we would've been beaten easily?" Naruto almost yelled, his pride wounded.

Hitsuka gave him a hard look. "Naruto, couldn't you tell that he was being easy on you guys? He could've ended this whole business at the beginning before Sasuke could get used to his Sharingan and before you two tired him out."

No longer hindered, Haku jumped up and immediately went into his attack position, causing Naruto and Sasuke to go into their own. "You should not have stopped him," Haku warned and went into one of his mirror once again. Naruto growled while Sasuke hissed very much like a cat.

With his smile still firmly in place, Hitsuka stared, his head cocked to one side. "Do you still want to fight?" he asked.

"Zabuza-san does not need a weak weapon," Haku answered before rushing at the strange, white-haired boy.

Sasuke leapt and Naruto yelled.

Hitsuka merely turned on his heels and struck Haku on his neck. "I don't think you can defeat me in your current condition," he said calmly, kneeling down beside the now paralyzed boy. "Well?"

Astounded by how fast Hitsuka had handled things, Haku accidentally let go of his hold on his mirrors and they crashed down around them in a shower of crystals. "What… How did you?" Pausing for a while to gather his thought, he finally requested, "Please kill me."

"WHAT!?" both Naruto and Sasuke yelled at the same time.

'I swear they were twins in their last life,' Hitsuka thought in amusement. Turning to the motionless boy on the ground, he asked, "Why?"

"Because…" Haku started then paused again. "Zabuza-san does not need a weak weapon," he repeated. "By defeating me, you've taken away my only reason for existing."

"Why for a guy like that! He's a bad guy who takes money from a criminal!" Naruto suddenly burst out. "Is that eyebrow-less freak the only important person to you!?"

Sasuke nodded his head. "I agree! Surely you can't just give up your life so easily!"

Haku looked at them from his place on the ground. He told them, slowly, his painful past, something he had buried, now uncovered to drive his point into these young, potential, shinobis in front of him. He, was ready, ready to die because he believed he was no longer needed by Zabuza-san who only took him because of his cursed blood. He had failed his only precious person.

"Are you… Hitsuka-kun?"

"Yes?"

"Please… kill me," he almost pled. He needed to disappear forever. He could no longer be here anymore. 'Good bye, Zabuza-san."

"I can't do that, Haku-san," Hitsuka said softly so that only the brunet could hear.

Eyes widened in alarm, Haku forced his aching body to sit up. "Why's that? You're a ninja and this is what you must do to become a good one! Ninjas are tools and tools only!"

Hitsuka's face expression tightened. He looked into Haku's determined eyes. He could see a quiet peace and he knew he could not waver this boy's belief. He sighed then looked coldly at the fallen boy, he uttered, "As you wish." The boy then shoved a black pill down the brunet's throat, forcing him to swallow it.

Haku's body fell back with a thump as his brain began to panic when he could not control his limbs. His body had become a prison of his mind. "What… is…" he began, desperately trying to work his lips but they soon shut down like a broken TV. The world around him was so cold…

"Hitsuka! You've KILLED HIM!!!" Naruto screeched in alarm, surprised at how cold-hearted the other boy was. "WHY!"

Not replying, Hitsuka checked Haku's eyes and pulse. He was dead.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked, giving the shorter boy a look of disappointment. "Why did you kill him?" Naruto nodded his head furiously in agreement.

Turning around, Hitsuka could see both boys were about to cry as they had met the gentle boy before. "You'll understand soon," he said, standing up with Haku's body in his arms. He moved down the bridge, drawing a wide arc away from his teacher and Zabuza. Placing the body gently down after he had done some estimation.

"How can I believe when you don't explain anything!?" Naruto shouted, his tears falling. "I can't believe- you- you bastard!"

'Ouch…' Even though Naruto and Sasuke didn't know everything, it still didn't take out the sting in Naruto's words and the frost of Sasuke's look. Then, he sensed a sudden presence of a killing intent. He smiled gently as if he was reassuring the other two boys, he was in fact reassuring himself for what he was about to do.

Tuning out Naruto and Sasuke's arguing voices, he disappeared from their view.

And appeared in front of Kakashi's.

Eyes widened to an impossible size, Kakashi tried to stop but could not as his momentum was far greater than the reaction friction. His Raikiri sailed forward, aiming straight for his student's heart, chirping and clapping loudly.

The mist cleared at that moment and everyone could finally see what was happening. Tazuna and Sakura were speechless as everything was happening too fast for them. Sasuke and Naruto yelled, their voices echoing uselessly. Haku's dead wide eyes stared at the three figures, one coming closed in being killed.

A heartbeat later, everything had ended and Kakashi dared to open his eyes. He found his right arm pushed to the side by Hitsuka's small left hand. He didn't kill his student, good. Calming his raging heart, the silver-haired man withdrew his arm slowly. "Hitsuka… what are you doing?"

Reaching up to cover his left shoulder as it was bleeding slightly from when he was too slow to prevent himself from getting killed, Hitsuka answered, "Kakashi-sensei, this man is no longer our enemy." He gingerly tested his arm, it was still numb and the skin around the injury was charred from the electric shock of Raikiri but it should be fine.

Laughing coldly, Zabuza attempted to move his body but failed as the nin-dogs were still attached to him. So he talked instead. "Are you crazy, brat. I'm hired to kill that old man and anything else that's in my way."

Decided to leave his arm as it was now, Hitsuka faced the fearsome man. "If you concentrate on your surrounding rather than Kakashi-sensei, you'll know what I'm talking about."

As a force of habit, the two jounins did just that, revealing a lot more of their surrounding instantly. "That bastard…" Zabuza snarled, knowing it could only be Gatou.

Silently cancelling his jutsu, Kakashi released his once enemy free. "What happened to the others?" he asked quickly, before all the mist could fade and reveal them.

Looking at the direction the white-haired brat pointed out, Zabuza could see Haku's motionless body on the ground. 'No… it can't be!' His mind denied the truth and his body moved without his command. "Haku!" he yelled, betraying his true emotion. The man made a move towards his only companion when a voice stopped him.

"You're getting your arse kicked, how disappointing."

A short figure walked out of the fading mist. It was Gatou, followed closely by his minions.

"Gatou, why are you here? And what's with all these men?" Zabuza asked dangerously, his mind had already answered this question for him. 'That brat was right.'

"Heh, heh! The plan has changed," Gatou said in his annoying whiney voice, "well actually, I planned to do this from the beginning." He smirked, looking very happy with himself. "Zabuza, I'm going to have you killed here."

"What?"

"I never planned on paying you any money." Gatou then went on explaining his oh-so-brilliant plan to the Konoha ninjas and one pissed-off Kiri ninjas. "You're just a cute little baby devil," he mocked.

"We can easily kill you now!" the mob cried, thinking of the easy victory and the money at the end.

'It's not like Zabuza-san can't use his arms this time,' Hitsuka thought, pitying the soon-to-be-dead men. 'Idiots, they must be blind. This man isn't called a demon for nothing.'

"Kakashi I'm sorry, this fight is over," Zabuza said politely to the scarecrow. "Now that I have no reason to go after Tazuna, I have no reason to fight you."

Kakashi agreed, "You're right." He eyed the massive crowd in front and wasn't one bit afraid.

"Oh yeah," Gatou suddenly said, walking forward to where Hitsuka had previously laid Haku down. Everyone tensed themselves for any unexpected move. The evil man stopped right beside the Kiri's boy's body who watched him with glassy eyes. "I owe this one…" He kicked out, twisting Haku's head and said dismissingly, "Heh, he's dead."

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? YOU BASTARD!'" Naruto and Sasuke yelled out at the same time, veins popping. The two rushed to save Haku but was pulled back forcefully by their teacher.

"Look at their numbers, don't just jump in!" Kakashi warned.

Turning to look at Zabuza, Naruto shouted, "Say something, too! Weren't you friends?"

"Shut up kid. Haku is already dead," Zabuza said emotionlessly, his previous temper gone.

Opening his mouth before Naruto, Sasuke burst out, angry, "Don't you feel anything at all!? Weren't you two always together!?"

Quietly, Zabuza stated that he held no emotion for the boy and that he only wanted to use his blood. He had carefully kept his face down, hidden from view. "I have no regret."

Both Sasuke and Naruto pulled free from their teacher's grasp. "Do you really mean that?"

"Stop, you two! We're not fighting him anymore…" Kakashi said yet he made no move to really stop them both.

"Shut UP!" Naruto yelled.

Sasuke followed more quietly, "Our enemy is still him."

They argued with the man. "He really loved you!" one said. "Do you really feel nothing!?" the other yelled. "He died without his own dream. He died as a tool!"

"Kids…" Zabuza's voice seemed to tremble ever so slightly. "You don't need to say any more…" His tears matched those of Naruto and Sasuke's. Even Sakura was weeping quietly. The two boys looked surprised while Hitsuka's face betrayed nothing. "It pained him to have to fight you two… Haku fought not only for me, he fought for you guys, too. He was too kind." Zabuza looked at the kind face of Haku and into his bottomless eyes. "A shinobi is still a human… we may not be able to become emotionless tools. I've lost…"

The man then swung his huge zanbatou and rushed towards Gatou. He did not care that it wasn't the weak-minded man who killed Haku. It was his fault and he would pay for it with his life.

"That's enough! Kill them!" Gatou yelled, running and tripping over his own feet to get to the back of his human shield.

One man cockily yelled, "One badly injured ninja against these numbers? You think you can wi-"

He was dead before he could finish. Without many injuries and hold a thirst for revenge, Zabuza was indeed the Devil of the Mist. Cutting down his enemies with no hesitation, he soon sent Gatou's head flying. The poor man did not even have time to utter any last words.

Everyone stopped, no one dared to move as they feared to attract the terrifying demon's attention. Turning on one heel, Zabuza placed his large weapon onto his back and walked towards Haku, ignoring the mob and the Konoha ninjas. Kneeling down, he touched the boy's face, feeling the fading warmth. "Haku…"

Suddenly, one man slammed the butt of his staff into the ground. "You guys are too at ease!" he yelled fearlessly as he hadn't seen how fast Zabuza had picked off his comrade.

Feeling confident with this sudden yell, other voices rang out as well. "Damn ninjas, you killed our meal ticket!" "You guys are dead!" "We're gonna loot this city and take anything of value!"

"Damn, this is bad," Kakashi muttered unhelpfully.

"Can't you do anything?" Sasuke asked urgently, jumping into a stance along with Naruto.

Kakashi scratched his nose. "Well…"

"I can help," Zabuza said, standing after putting Haku gently down again whose eyes were now closed. "After all, this is partly my fault."

Before the whooping mass could reach them, a fishing spear slammed into the ground between them, Surprised, everyone on the bridge turned to look at the origin of the spear. It was a little boy who shot it and he yelled, "If you come any further onto our island, the citizens of this country will stop you with everything we've got!"

'Inari…!' Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura recognised with surprise and pride. Inari wasn't like the small and scared boy from the previous night. He stood, looking ridicules with a wok as his helmet yet very courageous.

"INARI!" Naruto yelled, waving at the hero.

Grinning, the said boy shouted back, "A hero shows up at the last second, right?"

But these people were just normal fishermen. They weren't like those people who kill for money therefore they had less fighting experience than that of the present genins.

To even the odds, both Naruto and Hitsuka performed Kage Bunshin no Jutsu with Kakashi following suit. Hitsuka had suspected that Kakashi's Bunshins were only illusion so he secretly jabbed a finger at one of them. His finger went through. 'Ah well, Kakashi-sensei is only trying to fool these people.'

Looking menacingly at their enemies, several Kakashi said at the same time, their voice eerily echoed, "So… you want some of this?"

Well, it wasn't hard to guess that they ran away pretty fast. Soon, there were only the original fighters left behind.

Zabuza knelt back down, his back facing Kakashi and Hitsuka who were walking up to him. "Looks like it's over, Kakashi," he said softly, his voice thick with unshed tears. Kakashi agreed.

Then, it started to snow.

Zabuza choked. 'Are you crying, Haku?' he wondered, crying now. "It's all over now…" He had meant Haku's life as well as his own.

"No it's not."

Lifting up his face, the Devil gave a harsh bark of laugh. "It is, brat, its over."

Hitsuka sighed. "Why do you only call me 'brat'?" he asked, more to himself than the man. He sat down beside missing-nin and lifted up Haku's head so it was resting on his knees. 'Right, do I want to do this?' He mentally prepared himself before he placed a small, sky-blue pill into his mouth. And right before everyone's staring eyes, he placed his mouth over the brunet's.

The other three genins blushed deep red with large exclamation and question marks over their heads. Kakashi and Zabuza looked surprised with raised eyebrows. Tazuna fainted.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!?" the three genins yelled in union, causing the jounins to rub their ears and Tazuna to wake up only to faint again when he saw Hitsuka still had his tongue stuck down Haku's throat.

Yes, indeed, why would Hitsuka French kiss a dead body in the middle of a battle field? Well, the thing was, Haku was dead to the world but not to him. He wasn't really dead; in fact, he could still hear, see (if his eyes were left open) and understand what everyone was talking about. Which meant he had heard and saw the rather emotional Zabuza.

But that did not explain why Hitsuka was French kissing him in the middle of a battle field. It was him who put Haku into a temporary death with that little black pill and it had to be him to bring him out of it. But since only Haku's mind was working now and nothing else was, except his heart and other vitals organs, therefore he couldn't swallow with some help. And, well, this was the only way.

So, there you have it. After washing everything down, you got one thing. Hitsuka, French kissing, Haku.

Haku opened his eyes and came face to face with, not Hitsuka, Zabuza. "Zabuza-san…" he whispered, unbidden tears leaked out from the corner of his eyes. "Zabuza-san…"

"Haku, you're… you're not dead!" Zabuza cried, unexpectedly hugged the boy. "I'm sorry… Thank you, Haku."

Naruto sniffed and punched Hitsuka on the shoulder. "Hitsuka, you idiot," he muttered, wiping his nose.

"Yeah." Sasuke, too, punched him.

"Watch it, I'm injured!"

Naruto fluttered his eyelashes and asked in a disgustingly sweet voice, "Do you want me to kiss it better?"

Hitsuka shuddered. "Cut it, it was necessary."

In the mood, Sakura pretended to whisper to Sasuke, "Ne, have you heard? Hitsuka-kun actually swings that way."

Grinning, Sasuke nodded. It was his little revenge on Hitsuka for what he had done with those photos of him and Naruto doing… you-know-what.

"Haha!" Tazuna unexpectedly laughed. "This is super great! Everyone! Let's go back and celebrate!"

"YEAH!"

_The next morning_

The sun had just risen when Hitsuka quietly shut the door behind him. Inhaling deeply, he was rewarded with crisp, fresh hair. "Finally! Peace and quiet…" he said happily and no one could blame him for saying that. The whole Tazuna household had spent last night partying none stop after Hitsuka and Tsunami had patched everyone up. Now everyone was asleep or was moaning about the effect of too much alcohol also known as hangover.

He sat down on the narrow bridge and swung his legs above the still water. "What can I do for you, Zabuza-san?" he asked softly.

Silence answered him until the said man walked out of the thick mist. "Impressive…" Zabuza praised, standing next to the sitting boy. He stood there for a while, thinking. He then asked, "Tell me, why is someone like you who can sense me when even Kakashi cannot doing in a genin team?"

Blinking in surprise, Hitsuka tried not to look too innocent. "What do you mean?"

"I meant…" With speed that could rival Copy Cat Ninja's, Zabuza tore Hitsuka's left sleeve off along with the bandage underneath it. "…this."

The symbol of Konoha anbu proudly stood out on the pale skin of Hitsuka.

Quickly covering the symbol on his arm even though he knew it was too late, Hitsuka sighed tiredly. 'Stupid Pervert-senin and Tsunade-sama, forcing me to get this tattoo. I knew something like this will happen,' he thought, annoyed. "I thought I had hid it pretty well."

"When Kakashi's jutsu burnt your cloth, I saw it before you had covered it up. You later smeared your own blood over it so that no one can see it clearly, clever," Zabuza said. "Care to tell me why there is an anbu in a genin team?"

Hitsuka stood up so that Zabuza wasn't towering over him. 'A fat lot of good it did,' he thought bitterly as he was still at least forty centimetres too short. "I was an anbu but I'm now a genin." Prompt on by a raise of the nonexistent eyebrow, he continued, "The reason why I was an anbu is classified information. Did you… tell Kakashi-sensei?"

Zabuza coolly stared at the strange boy who wasn't even up to his chest in height but was anbu. He shook his head negative. "But I can…" He let the threat hang in the air.

Hitsuka grinned which got the man worried. "Of course you can," the boy said brightly. "But the day you tell anyone is the day your secret will no longer be a secret."

"…Meaning?" Zabuza carefully asked.

Hitsuka whipped out a few photos that were obviously been taken with an instant camera, he made a fan with them. "So… Zabuza-san, who would've thought you're as perverted as Kakashi-sensei?"

Peering down into the pictures, Zabuza was shocked to see him reading Kakashi's little yellow book. Sweat broke out on his forehead as the implication of the boy's skill in stealth and the power he now held sunk in. He made a mad grab at the little pieces of papers but the boy had disappeared. There was, however, an innocent bit of paper drifted into his hand.

'Zabuza-san, we all know secrets are best to be kept. If you keep mine, I'll keep yours. Have a nice day. Hitsuka'

"That… That brat!" Zabuza yelled but he ended up laughing.

_Two weeks later_

'Geez… they are like twins!' Sakura thought, looking sideway at the two boys.

"All right! Let's go home," Kakashi said, smiling. They all waved goodbye at the small group on the bridge, even Zabuza managed a flick of his hand.

This little group had grown in number. After some discussion with the Copy Cat Ninja, Zabuza had decided to go with them back to Konoha and Haku would follow him everywhere. The two missing-nins were tired of running and with the possibility of gaining protection, not they needed it, from the strongest village of this land was far too great to let go. Who knew, maybe they could even discard their missing-nin status and become Konoha shinobis.

Hitsuka later found out that the bridge had been named, instead of the Great Naruto Bridge which secretly in Hitsuka's opinion was a stupid name, the Bridge of Future.

_Back in Konoha_

"We need to give our report to Hokage-sama," Kakashi said, his eyes lazy and bored. "And we need to explain Zabuza and Haku's situation to him."

"This is boring!" Naruto yelled, itching to run to Ichiraku to make up for the last weeks' worth of ramen. "I want to go!"

Sakura punched him on the head. "Naruto! It is our duties to hand in our reports to the great Hokage-sama! Don't be this lazy!" she scolded.

"Yeah… idiot," Sasuke said with a smirk and got full attention from Sakura.

"Sasuke-kun! You're so cool!" she swooned.

Not backing down, Naruto started to bicker with the pale boy. "Teme!" A fight of name-calling soon erupted, drawing attentions from the surrounding villagers.

Many of the villagers scoffed at Naruto, saying how could the demon stand next to their great Uchiha prodigy! A few even dared to offer to 'fight' for Sasuke but they soon backed down when Sasuke coldly stated that he did not need the help from cowards and he could fight his own fight.

Haku and Zabuza were confused as to why this was happening to Naruto. They carefully looked at the sunny boy and could see, after prying the mask open with a few jounin-level jutsus, Zabuza's large sword and a crowbar, the pain in his eyes.

This pain, however, disappeared when Hitsuka and Sasuke threw their arms around the boys, one on each side. Hitsuka was saying that they could go and have ramen later while Sasuke told him that he should ignore those ignorant villagers who could shove their opinions up their buttocks. Naruto grinned and yelled that he did not care and was going to stuff himself full with the money they earned today.

This cheerful mood lasted until they reached the doors of the strongest man of this village. Haku, even Zabuza who had been to the gates of Hell and fought off the demons there to crawl back to the land of living, started to sweat as the man who was to decide their fates sat on the other side of the door.

The two males had been surprised when the Team 7 had asked them to come back with them to the village. With this seed planted, they had thought about this offer over and over for a few weeks until they decided that it was the best if they sided with a village. So this was why they were standing in front of the magnificent oak doors, waiting.

They were announced and the doors were opened. They came face to face with… a bright red face of an old man who had a corner of a yellow book sticking out from his wide sleeve. "Welcome," the old man said, throwing his hands out and the book neatly sailed out of its pathetic hiding place. Zabuza's hungry eyes followed it.

Hitsuka caught it and, without giving it even one glance, he set it on fire with his chakra. 'I like books but _literature_ like this… well,' he thought and he ignored the three heated glares sent his way.

The Third turned away to wipe a tear and quickly looked back. "So… welcome," he repeated, "to Konohagakure." He gave a shaky smile.

They talked. Like Naruto said, it was boring. The blond boy fell asleep first; followed shortly by Sasuke and soon Sakura. In the end, out of all the kids, only Hitsuka, because he was technically an adult, mentally at least, and Haku, who was too tensed up to relax were still awake.

Then, this meeting had reached a conclusion.

"Congratulation," the Third said, smiling warmly and reached out with his hand and to shake both Zabuza and Haku's hand, "on becoming the new residents of Konohagakure.

"Of course you will still hold the status of missing-nin until I've made some arrangements. So, till then, you'll both have to be under the surveillance of Konoha shinobis." The Third looked pointedly at Team 7. "Well…?"

Kakashi immediately shook his head. "My apartment is too small and I wish to keep my privacy," he said lazily. Those who understood what he was talking about either shuddered in fright or drooled in a rather perverted fashion.

Sasuke and Sakura both, too, shook their heads. Sasuke stated that it would be uncomfortable for the two ex-Kiri ninjas to live with the whole Uchiha clan and Sakura was a girl so it would be a little embarrassing for her.

They all turned to look at their last choice. Naruto and Hitsuka.

Looking at the white-haired boy with big round eyes, Naruto gave an impression of a little puppy, which made Hitsuka the bad guy because he rammed a fist into this innocent face. After nine years of looking after this kid, Hitsuka had enough of this Puppy-Dog Eye no Jutsu and could over come it with his Fist of Love.

Right…

Smiling, Hitsuka offered to Zabuza and Haku, "Would you like to stay with us? It will be kind of cramp but it should be fine. You can use the spare room although we'll have to take out the things in there."

Zabuza gave a genuine grin. "Thank you."

So, they settled in quite nicely. After taking all the craps out of the spare room and putting in some furniture, Zabuza and Haku had one nice little room to sleep in. Zabuza, with his skill, was easily accepted into the anbu team where, for now, he could always be under the surveillance of some of Konoha's best shinobis. Haku had joined the medical team as an apprentice and he was a fast leaner. In a few months, he could become one of the team members.

Everything was all nice and calm with no big events happening except the occasional prank attacks from the Leaf's Evil Prankster Trio. Well, until a meeting occurred between the Hokage and the two senins.

"Sensei, you can't be serious!" Tsunade said, actually, more like screeched.

Refraining himself from massaging his poor abused ears for it was a sign of weakness in front of the currently dangerous senin, the Third nodded his head. "Yes, Tsunade," he said slowly, careful not to anger the woman anymore. "I am naming you as my successor."

Two things happened at once: Jiraiya burst out laughing and Jiraiya flying through the wall next to the Hokage thanked to Tsunade's inhuman strength.

After the white-haired man's long suffering yell of "Noooooo…" had faded, Tsunade took a shuddering breath and cracked her knuckles. "I assume you have a death wish, old man," she said rather rudely, slapping her fist to her palm with a satisfying smack.

"Then that will make you the Fifth," the current Hokage almost chirped, not worried for his life at all. "If I'm alive, at least it'll give you some time to get use to this life."

"I DON'T WANT TO GET USE TO THIS STUPID LIFE!!!" Tsunade bellowed, livid. "HOW COULD YOU ASK ME TO LIVE UP TO THEIR DREAMS AFTER WHAT HAPPENED!?"

"Because you are no longer the woman that you were," the Third answered softly, cutting through the echoes of Tsunade's words. "Because you have moved on."

Huffing and crossing her arms, Tsunade did not try to argue with that, instead, she went on to another point. "Why not Jiraiya? Though he's a pervert, and it pains me to say this, he's not a bad leader."

The Hokage was already shaking his head before she could finish. "Jiraiya is a great student and I have absolute trust in him. But he is more confident out there in other people's territory then being cooped up in an office," he explained. "Which is why it must be you."

Tsunade heaved out an annoyed sigh. "A few years ago, I'll just laugh and destroy your office and run off and never come back to Konoha-"

"That's a lot of ands," the Third joked and was silenced by a hard glare.

"As I was saying, that was just in the past, but now, I don't know," she finished.

Stroking his white beard, the Hokage finally suggested, "How about you take up some of my duties for a while. See what you think and feel."

"Meaning I'll do all the paperwork for you, eh?" Tsunade sneered but there was no venom.

"That'll be a plus," the great leader agreed, "but I really do hope you can think about this."

Thinking thoughtfully to herself for a few moments, she suddenly grinned. "All right, I take up your offer. In exchange, I want you to give me permission to do one thing, whatever I want."

Looking suspiciously at his student, the soon-to-be ex-Hokage raised his eyebrow. "Will this one thing bring harm to anyone?"

"No, no, just some general fun."

"May I inquire why?" the old man pried further.

Grinning sadistically, Tsunade rubbed her hands together. "Just a revenge on someone who put me into this predicament."

The great leader of Konohagakure gulped and silently backed away. He could later be seen praying for whoever it was that invoked the princess of Konohagakure's fury.

It was on that same day that an envelope was sent out to each of the rookie genins. In it was a sheet of instruction directing them to meet in the Hokage's office next morning at ten o'clock sharp.

Surprised by this sudden invitation, the members of Team 7 met up with their instructor that evening to work out this seemingly harmless riddle. It was today that they first met the famous Gai Team.

"Ah, my mighty rival! We meet again!" Gai shouted energetically, not noticing how the scarecrow was completely ignoring him. "I see you have your students with you! The power of YOUTH!" His loud cry frightened a few birds in the surrounding trees to take flight.

"Right…" Kakashi replied in a monotone voice.

"AH! My rival! You're just so hip!" Gai yelled, teeth sparkling and blinding.

"Who's this nutcase?" Naruto asked from the corner of his mouth, eyes firmly turned away from horribly tight ('Thank goodness not in the 'right' places,' Hitsuka thought, shaking his head), green spandex and ugly yellow-brown leg warmers.

"Naruto, don't be rude," Hitsuka said, smiling as he was currently unable to make any other facial expression that might seem polite. This was, after all, his very first meeting with Might Gai.

Naruto insisted. "But who is he?" Both Sasuke and Sakura showed some interests as well, carefully shading their eyes from the bright rays that were reflected off from Gai's teeth.

Hitsuka sighed softly. "That's Maito Gai, the teacher of Gai team which consists of Tenten, Hyuuga Neji, ("Neji-nii-san!" Naruto shouted, noticing the lavender-eyed boy for the first time) and Rock Lee."

The girl and first boy nodded at the mention of their names while the last one, well umm… jumped out from behind Gai with a smart salute. Naruto yelled in surprise, "Argh! What kind of creep keeps his mini-clone on his team!" he yelled.

A vein popped on the said mini-clone's head. "Don't be disrespectful to Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted, his abnormally thick eyebrows twitched like twin caterpillars. "I have you know he's the best sensei ever!"

While the children bickered, the adults were doing no better. Interested by the slip of paper held in Kakashi's hand, Gai seized it with his lightning fast hand. Even Kakashi had to admit, he was good but not better than the taijutsu specialist.

Reading the content of the paper out loud, absolutely disregarding the fact that it could contain some private information which luckily it didn't. Eyes widened at this new piece of sweat meat, Gai declared, in a loud voice, that he and his team should be at the meeting as well since they, although no longer rookies, held every single right to participate anything that Kakashi's team could.

Ignoring the loud man with practice ease, the scarecrow walked away with nose firmly stuck in his little orange book, leaving his team behind with Gai's. If he had stayed, he would have found Lee's proclaims of love for the lovely Sakura who lived up to her name and was as pretty as her name ("Same thing, really," Naruto said unhelpfully).

Saving the princess of their team, Naruto and Sasuke both attacked Lee. They were surprised that their initial attacks were easily deflected which leaded them to continue in a more serious fashion. They were so into this sparring match, that they were the only ones left behind by the end of the day, something which Naruto was angry at Hitsuka about.

Sighing at the boy immaturity for the nth time, Hitsuka had made up with bowls of homemade ramen. He gave into a shiver even though the temperature was almost disgustingly warm as it was summer. He had a feeling that he was not going to be happy with whatever the hime-sama had up her majesty's sleeve.

_The next day, in the Hokage's office_

"Thank you very much for come in today even though we have some extra guests." Here everyone sucked in a breath a wait for the infamous anger that was surely going to come only to be thrown off when Tsunade continued with a bigger smile. "Which is good! Welcome!"

Both the Third and Jiraiya trembled slightly behind the large desk as they had seen that smile many times before and all during the circumstances where they had pissed the woman off. 'What is she up to?' Jiraiya thought and then decided that he actually didn't want to know.

They all watched as Tsunade's grin gotten bigger and wider. She took out something from behind her back and Hitsuka knew what he had felt the day before was right.

It was a poster with cute girls posing on it, looking pretty in their dresses and kimonos. But it wasn't those that made Hitsuka nearly fainted, it was what was written in bold letters across it. In bright red, those letters said, "PRETTY GIRL CONTEST!!!" with smaller words beneath, "Only selected males can enter."

Hitsuka hastily covered his ears, followed by many of the adults and girls presented.

"WHAT!?" Right on the cue.

"Tsunade-sama, what do you mean 'selected males'? I thought it's a pretty _women_ contest?" Sasuke asked almost shakily. "You don't mean…"

"Exactly what I mean!" Tsunade said oh-so-happily. She discreetly gave Hitsuka a wink which honestly confused the boy to no end. "All the males from rookie nine are entered and now including Hyuuga Neji and Rock Lee from Gai's team and Haku from the medic team!"

"WHAT!?" Again, the horrified yell, issued from Naruto, Kiba and, very uncharacteristically but it was about their manhood, Sasuke and Neji.

Hitsuka, used to this whole thing dressing up as a girl, could only sigh as he thought up a few possibility of why the senin was doing this. 'Revenge… I guess.' And he was correct. 'What did I do this time?'

While the boys argued, Shikamaru, who just couldn't be bothered to argue and thought Tsunade was an annoying woman; Chouji, who just kept on eating his chips; Shino, who thought this could a rather good training exercise in a strange twisted way; Lee, who, egged on by Gai who said he should beat Kakashi's students, had flames in his eyes and readied to rock n' roll; Haku, who just smiled, and Hitsuka stood on the side. They all knew that this could not be avoided as even if they miraculously managed to convince the woman that indeed this wasn't a good idea, they would still have to douse the scorching flame that burned in their fellow female team mates' eyes.

To sum it up, they had as much chance as a tiny snowball staying in shape in hell.

Clapping her hands to get everyone's attention, Tsunade gave another grin that could rival Gai's in brightness. "No matter what you say, you're not going to change my mind!"

"I won't enter!" Neji said firmly and glared at Gai with his sunglasses on as the man could practically blind a whole horde of enemy with his teeth.

"But there is a great price to be won," Tsunade said slyly and a few ears enlarged themselves. "A million dollars prize money!"

'Crap, even I want to enter,' Asuma thought with humour.

"Well… if you put it that way," Kiba said, scratching his nose. "Akamaru! We're definitely gonna win this thing!"

"What are you talking about!?" Naruto grinned. "I'm the one who invented Oiroke no Jutsu! This will be so easy!"

"Ah, that reminds me," Tsunade suddenly cut in. "No jutsu is allowed in this contest."

"WHAT!!?"

"Alright, you're all dismissed. You can ask your female team mates to help you in achieving your best _feminine_ looks. This contest will be held on Tuesday next week." All the girls, including Hinata, rubbed their hands together and grinned evilly. Tsunade fluttered her hand. "Bye."

As soon they were dismissed, Hitsuka immediately got out of there, leaving his other two male team mates to face Sakura. Haku, knowing that he kind of counted as a Team 7 member, teleported himself out as well. He knew how persuasive the pink-haired girl could be.

"HITSUKA! HAKU!" both Naruto and Sasuke yelled out, both being dragged backwards by the scruff of their necks by Sakura also known as Devil who wore Prada. (3) "You guys are evil!"

Their cries echoed as they were taken down into a dungeon with Sakura cackling evil. "Now my lovelies," she said in an evil scientist tone. "Time to dress you up!"

A week had soon past with the boys under the clutches of their female friends. A few times Neji, Naruto and Sasuke tried to crawl to Hitsuka to ask him for help, anything was better than their team mate, but they were soon taken back with the white-haired boy waving goodbye with a hanky. Hitsuka did not wish the girls to really carry out their death threats on him.

Soon, it was Tuesday.

"Everyone! WELCOME to Konoha's very first PRETTY GIRL CONTEST!" Tsunade yelled to the large cheering crowd that gathered beneath her. "Let me introduce you the three judges! First we have me and then Jiraiya the author of Icha Icha series! So he should know all about women… Then we have… Hokage-sama – Sandaime!" The crowd cheered crazily, clapping and stomping.

"The girls will come out one by one when I call their names then the judges will give their comments and marks out of ten. So… ARE YOU READY!!!"

"YES!" the crowd yelled back, nearly throwing Tsunade backwards with the force of their voice.

"ALL RIGHT! First we have Shiko-chan!" Tsunade said, throwing her hand towards one side of the stage from her place behind the judges' desk.

To make things more interesting, the genins had to make up female names for themselves, and the so-call 'Shiko-chan' was Shikamaru. He was too lazy to put in too much thoughts of his girl name so he took the 'Shi' from his name and added a 'ko' to finish. The end.

Refusing Ino's help, which got him a few punches to the face and a couple of kicks to lower region, Shikamaru stole his mother's clothes to play 'dress-up'. So, in a dangerously hot pink tank top, a denim mini skirt and knee high white socks, he wobbled across the platform on his high heels, his look of boredom firmly in place to hide any embarrassment he was currently feeling. He gave a half-hearted twirl on the balls of his feet at the centre of the stage, nearly tripping over in the process, and then proceeded to get away from there as fast as his footwear would allow him to.

Which, wasn't fast at all.

Jiraiya fainted from the mere sight of the boy therefore a zero. Sandaime gave a strained smile and held up a 5 sign, neither high nor low. Tsunade burst out laughing and waved a 2 sign as if she was waving a white flag in defeat.

In the end, 'Shiko-chan' got 7 out of 30. Good for him, err, her.

Still shaking in laughter, Tsunade spoke, now with the aid of a microphone as her lungs were too weak to project any loud noises, "Thank you, _cackle_, Shiko-chan! That was, _giggle_, lovely. Now let's welcome Kimiko-chan!"

Kiba, no, _Kimiko-chan_ strutted onto the stage, flashing her fangs. A few people wolf-whistled. She looked absolutely wild! In a short, one piece dress with leopard fur pattern on it, she looked almost like a hooker if it wasn't for the fact that she did not have any breasts. She did have a pair of nice legs though…

A studded collar around her neck only further enhanced her animal look.

Everyone laughed when Akane, a.k.a. Akamaru, trotted after her master in her own little leopard spots dress. She barked and looked like she was chasing her tail as she did a little twist of her own.

Jiraiya gave a 7, hastily wiping his nose as his mind conjured up some inappropriate images. The Hokage weakly lifted up a 5 again, hiding his face. He wasn't disappointed it was just that his heart couldn't take this kind of surprise. Tsunade managed to keep a straight face and gave a 4.

In total, 'Kimiko-chan' and 'Akane' got 16. Not too bad as it was more than 50 percent.

"Next we have Lina-chan!"

Muscles rippling underneath the figure-hugging material with rock hard thighs showing from the high splits on both side, she walked out in her qipao she borrowed from Tenten. Tossing her two long, black braids over her wide shoulder, she glided across the platform in her cloth slippers, winking and blowing kisses along the way. She also threw in lifting her eyebrows in a suggesting manner.

People shrieked and cried "My eyes! My virgin eyes!" A few brought out cans of 'Bugs Spray – Instant Death!' and aimed for the twin caterpillars.

Needless to say, it was Lee.

Lee was devastated. Now he had to run around the whole village a hundred times while doing flying kicks. He walked off sadly when he received two zeros from the senins and a trembling 4 from Sandaime.

Before he could get to the end of the stage, a green figure moved in front of him. "Gai-sensei," he whispered, looking at his idol in front of him. Fat tears started to gush out. "GAI-SENSEI!!!"

Crying as well, Gai moved in to hug his student. "LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!!!"

"LEE!!!"

"GAI-SEN-"

A very irritated Tsunade punched both of them off the stage. "Well…" she said to the still trembling crowd, "that was slightly disturbing. But let's move on! Coming up next is Naruko!"

It was very obvious as to who that would be. Naruko equalled Naruto.

Naruko was dressed up by Sakura so she wasn't naked or anything like that. Walking almost timidly up the stage, the crowd went "Oooh" and forgot that she was the Kyuubi kid. They could be forgiven for that as Naruko was so cute in her little blue, short sleeve dress with a white apron over it, shining black school shoes and a yellow bow on the top of her blond, shoulder length hair.

She looked liked Alice from Alice's Adventure in Wonderland and she even had a white bunny with her. (4)

Sakura pumped her arms in victory.

Peering from underneath her long eyelashes, Naruko gave a shy giggle which won loud approval from the audience area. Encouraged by this, the girl gave a few twirls and ended with a bow.

While she looked innocent on the outside, Naruto was cackling evilly on the inside and was immaturely calling people names.

She got 21 points in total, ten of which was contributed by Jiraiya who had his notepad out and was writing furiously on it. She shuddered, afraid of what kind of inspiration she had provided.

"Finally! Someone worth looking at!" Tsunade shouted. She held out a hand to quieten the raging crowd. "Moving on! We have… Chiko-chan!"

The raise platform trembled and shook as if it was afraid of something. Heavy footsteps could be heard as an increasing figure trooped on.

Ba-Dum. Ba-Dum.

CRASH!!!

Tsunade went to investigate and then hastily came back. "As our next contestant is currently unavailable, we'll continue," she said into the microphone and the audience muttered amongst themselves in confusion. "NEXT! Let us welcome NAMI-CHAN!"

"Leave me alone!"

A voice rang out from behind the stage. It was bordering on panicking and desperation.

"Get your grotty hands OFF ME!!!"

A form suddenly shot out from behind the curtains and landed on its knees.

Long, silky black hair ran smoothly down the beautiful girl's back and in front of her face. "Argh!" she cried in anger, standing up gracefully and brushing her black hair back with a small hand.

Eager eyes followed the hand and morphed into love hearts upon seeing Nami-chan's face.

Long fringe framed her pale face, long eyelashes and wide brown eyes stood out with a pair of pouty red lips on her pale face.

Wearing a pure white dress, Nami-chan looked exactly like a delicate doll. A white cap on the top of the head secured by the white ribbons that were tied into a bow at the bottom of her chin, sleeves flared out at the elbows with frills lining the inside, the skirt was just long enough to discreetly show the white underpants (5), and finished with a pair of white socks and shoes.

Stalking off the stage quickly without even waiting for her result, Nami-chan did not respond to the calls of "Encore".

She got 25, four points higher than Naruko.

"Neji-nii-san! You're so beautiful!" Naruto yelled, looking at the crimson boy.

"Shut up! Shut UP!!!" Neji yelled, tearing his wig off. He then carefully touched his _eyeballs_ and took something out. They were colour contact lens that he borrowed from Hitsuka.

Shikamaru commented lightly, "I never thought you were wired that way."

He was later found singing "I am a little teapot" in the park with a dazed look in his eyes.

"What a stunning performance from Nami-chan!" Tsunade shouted, really getting into the mood. "Now we have SHIMITSU-CHAN!"

It was her spiky, gold hair that first grabbed everyone's attention. Shimitsu-chan was a punk. Wearing a high-collared black top with buckles absolutely everywhere, an equally black miniskirt that flared out and a pair of black (again) pantyhose with rips and holes on it, she clomped onto the stage in her heavy metal boots. Sunlight glinted off her sunglasses as she levelled a cool gaze at the judges.

Silence…

Everyone was so shocked that they made no response even after the girl had walked off.

Since they did not even see the face of the girl other than her nose, the judges gave a grand total of ten to her.

By the way, it was Shino if you didn't know.

"Right… Moving on!"

Tsunade waved at the spider webs that had somehow appeared on the stage and gave the light an extra boost of power as they had decided to dim a little bit before.

"Then we have Sumiko-chan!!!"

This one, in Hitsuka's opinion, was by far the funniest one.

Without her usual confidence, Sumiko-chan timidly walked forward into the spotlight. A few people immediately fainted from the lack of blood in his or her brain, for Sumiko, a.k.a. Sasuke, was a cat girl.

She was wearing a pair of furry black ears on the top of her head with an incredibly large red ribbon, a short, black spaghetti straps dress, and a pink lace garter belt and high platform boots. This was completed by a pink collar with a large gold bell in the middle and a long flicking tail.

SQUEAL!

Needless to say, she got the highest mark with her 28. She scored full mark from both senin and an eight from the powerful leader who was not so powerful now.

The Third clutched at his rapidly weakening heart. 'Please!' he pled to whichever higher being that was present. 'Please! Make the next one normal!'

"Now, instead of coming on individually, the last two will go together as a special presentation! Please put your hands together for Kana-chan and Fuyu-chan!"

The curtain on the stage suddenly drew back; revealing two figures on their knees with a fan in one hand each, covering their faces.

A soft whispering music started and the two girls stood up slowly. They were both wearing kimono with the same design but different colour.

On the right was Kana-chan (Hitsuka) who had a dark violet kimono with butterflies in multiple colours taking flight and a pink obi.

Contrasting the other girl, Fuyu-chan's (Haku) kimono was a light pink with the same butterflies and violet obi.

They danced slowly to the music and as the tempo got faster, so did their movements. Round and round they moved, swooping up and down with their long hair flowing behind them. They were truly two beautiful butterflies dancing in a field of flowers.

This exotic dance ended with them looking deeply into each other's eyes with Kana touching Fuyu's hair with her free hand and Fuyu holding Kana's hand with hers.

So beautiful, everyone sighed. Stunningly beautiful.

They were the only ones that got 30 out of 30.

The winners of the competition.

_That night_

"What the heck was that!?" Naruto shouted at the two boys in front of him. "How come you two can do this performance thingy!"

"Tsunade-sama never said you couldn't," Hitsuka said, eating his beef amen.

"And we were asked by Tsunade-sama to go up together so I thought why not do something special," Haku followed, smiling.

Zabuza, for some reason, blushed slightly upon seeing his companion. Hitsuka noticed this and gave the face-burning man a grin.

Everyone was celebrating at Ichiraku for Hitsuka and Haku's success in the competition. Many came up to congratulate the two boys but there were a few that were a bit sour about this.

Namely Naruto, Sasuke and Kiba.

The other boys just simply didn't care if they won or not.

A bit of scuffle broke out between the aforementioned boys and the winners which ended with the losers tied up outside, returning the peace to the restaurant.

This day ended with everyone happy (minus the previous three boys) and both Hitsuka and Haku half-a-million dollar richer each.

* * *

(1) I have no idea how to use the suffix. Is it alright for Hitsuka to use –kun with Inari? I'm not sure any more! 

(2) He's a chibi here and when do you see kids with muscles? Well, cute kids?

(3) Disclaimer: I do not own the title 'Devil wears Prada'.

(4) Haku's bunny, Usagi-chan.

(5) The long ones, not knickers!


	20. Chapter 20

Well... Umm... Sorry?

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

**Kyuubi talking**

-Shion talking-

* * *

Chapter twenty 

After the big, exciting contest that Tsunade so unexpectedly threw, Konoha went back to its normal self. Well, almost. Due to the nose-bleeding introduction of the so-call 'Butterfly Sisters', most of the male population of the village organised search teams to look for them as they had vanished so suddenly. The fact that it was a 'Pretty Girl Contest' with 'male contestants' seemed to have lost upon them.

After a week of hard work, the men were rewarded with an anonymous tip from a woman in a cowl. The Butterfly Sisters were in fact Hitsuka and Haku. Since both boys already looked suspiciously like girls, the males of all ages were sure that they were the Sisters. Even though that was true, but them thinking the two poor boys were girls was not.

So, a game of many-cats-and-two-mice began.

Hitsuka and Haku, however, had a slight advantage. They lived with the fearsome ex-Kiri nin, Momochi Zabuza. Angry that his (?) precious Haku was being harassed by annoying pests, Zabuza often carried his large zanbatou in a more threatening way and hung around Haku. Not many people tried to approach them after a fiery glare from the man. As long Hitsuka stayed close, he would receive the same protection.

Unfortunately for him, this did not happen most of the time as Haku's activities and his didn't overlap frequently. So after constantly dodging unwanted attention every way possible, adding extra locks on the already lock-laden door and windows, he decided he needed to do something drastic. Now, urgently.

So, what could he do?

After some serious pondering and lengthy discussion with the others ("No, Naruto, for the last time I will not ask Tsunade-sama to turn me into a real girl!"), a few solutions were suggested.

Solution number one: Move away from Konoha and become a hermit, suggested by Jiraiya and was rewarded with a couple of kicks to his lower area by the younger generation.

Solution number two: Sacrifice Haku, said Kakashi who was punched by quite a few people and nearly had his head lopped off by one angry swordsman with a large sword.

Solution number three: Change his fashion to that of Gai and Lee, Kakashi offered again and received a big cross on his face stamped by Hitsuka.

Solution number four: Let things continue on and rejoice in the attention, Tsunade proposed which did not help one bit.

Finally, as it should have already happened, Hitsuka's last thick rope of patience snapped. The warm atmosphere the apartment held suddenly dropped more than ten degrees as darkness consumed it. Eyes wide in alert or panic, the occupants looked about, trying to determine if this was a prank or an attack.

They didn't need to look for long.

Hitsuka stalked towards the huddling group, his chakra danced lightly across his skin, casting an eerie blue light on his body. Eyes glowing unnaturally, he reached forward silently.

Scrambling to get as far away as possible from the mad boy, Jiraiya and Tsunade pushed the kids in front of them to serve as a meat barrier while desperately looking for the way out. Zabuza bravely stationed himself before Haku, determined to be the hero even if he died in the process. The kids just trembled as they had rarely seen Hitsuka this angry before and Kakashi was annoyed as he could not read without any light.

"I'm getting out of here!" Tsunade hollered; her hand forming a fist to punch a hole in what she thought was the wall. Her movement, however, was stopped by a thin chakra string. Everyone was in the same predicament as chakra strings bound them into places. They looked like puppets on strings.

'Oh my GOD!' they thought as they saw the very thing that struck fear deep into their now motionless hearts. Hitsuka was smiling.

Not good. Not good at all.

"You guys…" the creature before them started then paused, letting the horror meter rose a bit more before continuing, "are annoying."

The two powerful senins, the famous Hatake Kakashi, the two ex-Kiri nins, and the five genins shuddered before renewing their attempts in escape with determination.

Then, Naruto's hand landed on something. Without looking, he instantly knew what it was; goodness knew how many times he had seen it handled with utmost care. He grabbed it and thrust it in front of him like the flimsy shield it was.

But for some reason, Hitsuka stopped upon seeing it, his eyes widened slightly.

'It' was nothing more than a plain, cream box the size of a man's fist. There was no distinct marking on it that made it stood out and was too small to be one's treasure box. It offered little, next to none, protection for the four children and four adults.

But the chilling killing-intent from the short boy had disappeared never less.

With a sigh, Hitsuka flicked the light switched back on, causing a burst of tear into the eyes of the occupants of the room. "Hand me that box, Naruto," he said calmly, returning to his normal self.

Naruto clung onto the group's lifeline, knowing their lives could very well depend on him. "Never! Not until you've calm down!" he yelled.

Hitsuka tried to reason. "I am calm…" He hastily brushed off the popped veins on his forehead and shoved them behind his back, out of sight. "See?"

Now the danger was gone, the two idiotic senins showed immense interest in the object. Jiraiya easily stole the box from Naruto's grasp and balanced it on the tip of his index finger. "What's in it?" he asked, finding great amusement in watching Hitsuka's eyes following the swaying of the box.

Tsunade took it and shook, causing the now panicking boy to wince. A rattling sound could be heard. "Sound like little pebbles," the woman said thoughtfully. The two adults did not notice the others backing away from them slowly, including Hitsuka himself.

Jiraiya snatched it back and began tossing the innocent box like a ball. He smirked as he knew he now held the power over the boy in his hand. "Well, Hi-tsu-ka-kun?" he asked sweetly.

And was promptly rewarded with a hefty whack from Zabuza's zanbatou, swung by the man himself. Crashing through the window at a speed that could almost rival with that of Yellow Flash, Jiraiya discovered his inner-cannon-ball-self.

_A split-second later_

KABOOM! BANG! BOOM!!!

Later, an unrecognisable man with a nose the size, colour and shape of a pear, lips like twin blow fish, neon pink nose and leg hair, skin in all sorts or colours and a couple of flowers blooming on the top of his butt could be seen wheeling into the Konoha hospital.

Everyone laughed, including the ER medic-nins.

Now Hitsuka knew what the effects of all of his smoke bombs combined together. Not pretty, but funny,

Naruto was, however, strung up and hung from the Yondaime's stony nose for causing Hitsuka to lose the majority of his creations.

In the end, nothing was done about Hitsuka's situation so he started to treat it like a training exercise. Using his skills in stealth, he managed to avoid most of the attention and, by designing traps around his house, any well-wishers or stalkers were presented with large number of challenges.

It was kind of fun. Listening to people's screams.

"_Insert evil laugh from Hitsuka._"

_A few days later, after an incredibly boring E-ranked mission_

"Man! That was so boring!" Naruto screamed in frustration. "How could they issue me with a mission that required me to sit on my butt and peel carrots the whole day!?"

"At least you didn't get onions," Sakura muttered, sniffing slightly as her eyes were still stinging from the irritating gas the vegetable gave off.

Kakashi first looked up at the sky before giving his students a one-eye smile. "You guys did a good job peeling vegetables today. I'll need to hand in the mission report so see you tomorrow," he said then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Naruto, you go home first. I need to pick up some groceries," Hitsuka told the boy who nodded. Splitting off from the group, the white-haired boy headed towards the shopping district.

"Ne, Sasuke-kun, Naruto, wanna train for a bit before going back?" Sakura, surprisingly, asked the two boys. "You guys can join, too," she addressed the trailing box.

Bursting out from their 'clever' disguise, the three children jumped with glee as they could train with their boss and his friends. "You can see through our disguise, you must be one of the greatest kunoichi!" Konohamaru yelled. "Let's play ninja!"

"Why would a ninja play ninja?" Sasuke wondered but left the silly idea, knowing he would just give himself a headache if he thought about it too much.

The group laughed and joked as Naruto chased Konohamaru in a game of tag when the young boy carelessly tripped and crashed headfirst into someone. "OW!"

"That hurts," the someone said, glaring down at the midget by his feet. "Watch where you're going, squirt!"

Snot dribbled down from the young boy nose as he realised that he may have offended someone strong. "Konohamaru, get back here!" The said boy heard the yell but his eyes remained fixed on the painted face of the Suna-nin. He whimpered softly and started to struggle when he was lifted up by his collar.

"Naruto-nii-chan!"

"Let go of him!" the two male Konoha genin yelled, already in their fighting stances. They didn't dare to attack just yet, fearing for the young boy's safety.

Ever the clever one of the group, Sakura calmly asked, "Why are the ninja of Sunagakure here in Konohagakure. It is forbidden for shinobis to enter other Villages without permission. What business do you have here?"

"Well…" The foreign ninja smirked and did not let Konohamaru go. "I hate midgets…" he muttered but with a tinge of warmth that was lost upon the tense Konoha ninjas.

This anxious moment was, however, quickly dispersed when a flying fist smashed right into the purple-painted face. "Kankurou! What the hell do you think you are doing?!" a blond girl with four pig-tails yelled, her other hand catching Konohamaru from the fall and set him down gently. "We are not here to cause trouble!"

"Temari! But that midget-"

"I don't care if that midget let loose a flock of birds which are highly trained in aiming for men's vulnerable parts." The males winced as she grabbed a fistful of Kankurou's shirt and snarled, "Just don't cause any trouble in his village."

A whimper was her reply. Dropping her good-for-nothing brother, she turned around with an apologetic smile on her face. "I am so sorry for what happened. My little brother has always been this rude." She withdrew a pass from her pocket and kicked the lump beside her foot so he would do the same. "Here are our passes and we are here for the chuunin exam."

Not quite totally relaxed, the genins of the group cocked their heads to one side. "Chuunin exam?"

Looking surprised, Temari made sure. "You haven't heard about it?" Shaking heads. "Well, I'm sure you'll find out soon."

Then, almost alarmingly, Naruto felt a _connection_ to someone. It left as quick as it came, leaving the fox within him hissing and all fluffed up.

"Temari-nee-san, Kankurou-nii-san, have you found him yet?" a new voice asked from behind the Konoha residents. Whirling around, they saw the speaker was a boy with shocking red hair (although, admittedly, not as shocking as Sakura's pink) and a gourd on his back. "He's as good as ever in hiding his presence," he said with a huff.

The girl, Temari, shook her head. "No, but our idiot of a brother has decided to cause some trouble," she replied with a glare at the taller boy. "Sorry, Gaara-chan, we might have to do it the old fashion way."

No longer able to contain his curiosity, Naruto finally yelled, "What the hell are you talking about! Who's he? And what do you want!"

"Yuki Hitsuka, do you know him?" Gaara asked politely and was slightly confused when he felt hostility from all of the Konoha residents.

"What do you want with him?" Sasuke asked quietly, his mind whirling to come up with strategies. He saw Sakura secretly hand-signalling him which also got Naruto's attention.

'We are surrounded. Have to protect kids. May need help,' it said and both boys agreed.

Luckily, help was at hand.

"Looks like you guys are in a bit of trouble," Haku stated, coming up from behind Temari and Kankurou with Neji and Hinata quietly by his side. They all had weapons hidden in their hands. "What seems to be the trouble here?"

Irritated at how a simple question was provoking all these ill-feelings from the Konoha-nins, the Suna-nins got themselves readied to retaliate if needed. "We just want to know where we could find Yuki Hitsuka," Kankurou snarled, unwrapping his puppet while Temari opened her fan to the first dot.

"And we want to know what is it you want with him," Neji stated rather than enquired. They all see Hitsuka as their important friend and, for most, saviour. So when foreign ninjas came calling his name, they assumed the worse.

Fortunately, before the alliance between the two villages was broken by a couple of hot headed genins and a medic-nin, the person of interest appeared in the midst himself.

Easily the shortest comparing to the other genins, Hitsuka still gained the attention of those that were presented. "What's happening here," he asked with a smile that sent chills down people's spine even though he looked slightly comical with two large bags of food in his arms.

One glance told him what he needed to know. Settling down his shopping with a sigh, he started with older male of the Suna siblings. "How many times do I need to tell you to stop terrorizing smaller kids, Kankurou-san?" he reprimanded, giving the boy a disappointed look, knowing it was worse than him yelling.

Kankurou winced and looked ashamed. He knew Hitsuka was younger than him (physically, but he didn't know that) by two years but sometimes the younger boy acted so much like his uncle it was hard not to flinch. "Sorry…" Honestly, he loved the boy like his brother, but there were times he was more like his mother.

"Temari-san, just knock him out next time," he then advised the girl who nodded and smacked her fan against her palm with a satisfying _whack_ which frightened her brother to no end.

Still shocked by the fact that Hitsuka knew the trio, Naruto was even more surprised when the white-haired boy turned his attention on him. "And you, Naruto, Sasuke. Suspicious of strangers is good but to the point of attacking ten seconds after meeting them is a bit too much," he said and gently bonked the sunny boy on the head. "You guys are far too hot-headed." Haku and Neji bristled when they were, too, categorised into that section.

"But never mind, I'm sure everything's sorted." He bent to pick up his bags but was ploughed over by a red-head.

"Hitsuka!" Gaara almost roared, hugging the other boy to an early grave.

Feeling a couple of particularly hard weights he had on him digging painfully into his chest and ribs, Hitsuka threw Gaara off easily, betraying his true strength. Not giving up, the Suna boy leaped up from the sand that cushioned his fall and circled the other.

"I know we haven't seen each other for a long time," Hitsuka said slowly, somewhat afraid to provoke the crouching beast. "But please calm down." He held his arms open and said with a smile, "See, I won't disappear."

"Hitsuka…" Gaara sniffed and threw himself into the welcoming embrace very much like when he was three.

"Gaara." Hitsuka's eyes glittered with tear.

"… That is so wrong," Naruto commented and a brief mutter of agreement rose.

Hitsuka's face darkened. "No dinner for Naruto tonight," he said in a monotone voice, his eyes held a dead look.

"What! NO! I didn't mean it!"

While the blond was practically on his knees, the white-haired boy noticed something different about Gaara and for a second, his blood chilled. "Gaara, what's that on your forehead?" he asked, slightly shaky.

He was talking about the kanji for 'Love' that stood boldly on the boy's forehead.

The boy blushed and looked down. Temari was the one who answered.

"Gaara-chan came back home with that one day, saying he did it himself which had to be true with… what he has. He said that," she looked at her brother fondly, "it is a sign of his love for his precious people. Everyone sees it will know how much he loves us." She hugged the red-head gently and everybody went "Ahh…"

Grinning happily, now that he understood what the symbol stood for which was the opposite of his fear, Hitsuka yelled out, "Yashamaru-san, will you please join us!"

The kind man stepped out from his hiding place on the tree. "Good afternoon to you all," he greeted with a smile…

… and dodged the fist that formed out of sand to his head.

"You were here all the time yet you didn't try to help!" Gaara snarled and Hitsuka thought he could see a fluffed up tail behind the angry boy's back. "An adult's help at that time could've helped to diffuse the confusion!"

Feeling fatherly – as he was basically the three siblings' father with the neglect of their real father – Yashamaru donned a teary-eye look. "Bu-But, you guys have to face the real world sooner or later! I just want to put you in a situation where you would need to act maturely to get out of." He sniffed into the handkerchief that came out of nowhere. "Which you guys failed miserably."

"Yashamaru-san…"

"Yes, Hitsuka?"

"You've changed…"

Shuddering slightly, Hitsuka turned away from the gaping man and finally introduced everyone. Now that everyone knew each other, the atmosphere was considerably lighter. Although Konohamaru still kept his distance from Kankurou. Neji, Sakura, Sasuke and the three kids left for home when they realised how late it was, waving goodbye as they went.

Bending down to retrieve his groceries for the second time, Hitsuka stood and smiled. "Would you like to come to our house for dinner tonight? I've bought enough food to cover everyone," he invited.

"Sure," Gaara was quick to agree.

Temari looked confused. "Wait, you said you bought enough food for all of us… How long have you know we're in Konoha? We were going to surprise you."

Already started walking ahead to lead the way, Hitsuka looked back. "With neither of you hiding your presences and Gaara's unique chakra, I've know you guys are in Konoha ever since you stepped into it."

"WHAT!?"

'So that was why Hitsuka ran off as soon as we finished today's mission,' Naruto mused.

That night, the apartment that housed two Konoha-nins and two ex-Kiri-nins was loud and happy. Singing and cheering could be heard until a disgruntled neighbour came knocking on the door. Slightly drunk, Zabuza was going to slice the party-pooper but was quietly led away by an embarrassed Haku, leaving Hitsuka to apologise. The party quickly ended after that.

The Suna-nins took their leave with Gaara pouting. They had to go back to their hotel as there was simply no room left in the tiny apartment with four people already living inside it. But he was soon in a good mood again when Hitsuka gave him some of his favourite homemade cookies. In his opinion, the gold-eyed boy's cooking was the best, even better than Yashamaru's.

"See you tomorrow," Hitsuka said. "Good night."

Naruto did not say anything and turned away from the group.

"Naruto?" Hitsuka looked questioningly at the boy. "What's wrong?"

Naruto muttered something.

"What was that?"

Sucking in a big breath, the blond finally yelled, "I don't like him!"

Taken back at this sudden outburst, Hitsuka hastily asked, "Who don't you like? Tell me! Has anyone being hurting you? Treating you badly? Or… touching you!?"

If it wasn't for the seriousness the short boy had, Yashamaru would be a rolling, laughing human ball on the ground.

Shaking his head, Naruto snarled at Gaara. "Him! I don't like him!"

…

"EH!?"

Hitsuka looked most surprised out of them all. "Why, Naruto? Why don't you like him?"

Body shaking in unsuppressed anger, Naruto pointed at the way Gaara was practically glued to the white-head. "Stop TOUCHING him! Hitsuka likes me the most!" He jabbed his thumb at his chest.

Gaara growled back and tightened his hold. "He's mine, he likes me better," he snarled possessively.

Grabbing the other arm, Naruto pulled. "MINE!"

"MINE!"

"Let GO, panda-boy!"

"Shut up! You- You- Blondie!"

"Is that the best you can come up with, huh? Panda, panda, panda…"

Being pulled from both side, Hitsuka popped a vein. 'My God…' With speed that even exceeded Gaara's sand shield, he kicked both boys in the face with his feet, cracking a Suna no Yoroi in the process.

"I am not any of yours!" Hitsuka yelled, throwing a boy off on each side. "Not yours," he punched Naruto in the face, sending him flying back a few metres, "nor yours," He charged his fist with chakra; appeared on the other side of Suna no Tate and smashed through Gaara's last defence and the Shukaku container discovered a new way of transportation.

Standing amongst the fallen bodies, Hitsuka, the sole survivor, stood there calmly. The two boys groaned and struggled to sit up. Taking hold of the back of the blond boy's collar, he dragged him towards Gaara. The two 'love' rivals cringed, fearing for the worse.

But they were surprised to find Hitsuka hugging them both.

"And I like you guys the same," he finally finished.

Embarrassed, Naruto was the first to apologise. "I'm sorry."

"… I'm sorry, too."

Hitsuka smiled and jumped up. "Goodness! You guys just have to make me behave like your mother!" he joked. He knew, technically, if he got a sex change, he was old enough but let's not went down there.

The others laughed and the two boys made up. Naruto was still embarrassed at how he behaved before and told Gaara so who shook his head and said he would be the same if it was him. Realising that their 'love' for the white-haired boy was the same, they were behaving like long-lost brothers finding each other.

'What a long day…' Hitsuka sighed as he climbed into bed. 'Who would've thought Naruto and Gaara are really that similar.'

_The next day, by the bridge_

Knowing far too well that Kakashi-sensei would just make them wait while he was off somewhere having a good time, Team 7 did not get to their meeting point until three hours later. Haku was with them as well; having been informed he needed to be the day before.

"Ne, Haku, why are you here?" Naruto asked, braiding the boy's hair out of boredom.

Slightly annoyed – his two younger roommates had managed to break his nice-guy mask so now he was no longer holding back showing his emotions – Haku pulled his hair back and shook it back to what it was, replied, "Just wait. Hatake-san will tell us."

Staring hard at Hitsuka, Sasuke suddenly stated, "You must know something."

All the boy did was to give him that damn annoying smile of his.

Sakura did not even look up to see her Sasuke-kun trying to strangle Hitsuka with the boy's hair. She was too busy reading a book she bought in Wave Country.

Exactly fifteen minutes after they met up, Kakashi turned up on the top of beam and waved. "Yo! Today I got lost on the road of life."

"LIAR!" they all yelled but with a smile. It was now a common joke between them since they knew everything Kakashi said would be a lie. Such as, "I got lost today." How did he get lost when he had the Sharingan? And that time, the genin test, his excuse was, "My clock is a bit weird today." Though the clock he brought out was perfectly fine… (1)

"Anyway, this is not what I've called this meeting today." Kakashi looked at the attentive, little faces then went on, "I know this is sudden but, I've nominated you guys for the chuunin selection exam."

…

"WHAT!?" the original Team 7 yelled while Hitsuka and Haku shared a knowing look.

"Here are your applications…"

"Kakashi-sensei, I LOVE YOU!" the happy blond jumped and hugged the man.

Kakashi looked slightly worried. "I'm sorry, Naruto… I'm not wired that way."

A bit of wrestle later, the silver-haired man managed get rid of Naruto long enough to continue with his speech. "This is just a nomination, whether to take the exam is up to each of you." He gave them a bored-look. "Those who wish to take it should sign their papers and turn up at room 301 by 4pm tomorrow."

He then turned towards Hitsuka and Haku. "You two will need to go to see Hokage-sama. That's all." Kakashi was going to take his leave when he noticed extra weights on his legs. It was Naruto again.

"How come they need to see the old man?" He practically held the man's leg as a hostage. The other two genins looked interested to know as well.

Kakashi gave them his one-eyed-smile and then suddenly loomed up in front of them. "You don't need to know…" he said in a spooky voice, his eye wide and face dark. The two boys in question used this distraction to run off.

_Konoha HQ_

"Hokage-sama, you want to see us?" Hitsuka asked after they were allowed to enter the room.

"That's right, please sit down," the kind old man said with a smile, indicating the two chairs in front of him. He waited until they were seated before starting the explanation of why the two boys were here. "This is about your team arrangement in the chuunin selection exam. You both know that each genin team has three people, right?" Nods answered his question. "Since Hitsuka is unofficially part of Team 7 and Haku is not on any team, I've decided to put you two on one team to go into the exam."

"That's good," Hitsuka grinned at the other boy who agreed.

"Technically, Haku's already at the level of a special jounin, but given his current status it would be better if he gains his chuunin vest first," the Third answered the unasked question. "And with Hitsuka, you two should be fine."

Haku looked grateful. He understood that as an ex-missing-nin, many would be suspicious and afraid of him if he achieved his ranks too fast. Better to take one step at a time and showed them where his loyalty now lied.

"Haku, you can go now," the Third said, "Good luck tomorrow."

The boy stood up, giving Hitsuka a questioning glance. "I just need to speak to Hokage-sama a bit. Please go on without me," Hitsuka assured the other.

When Haku finally left with one more over-the-shoulder look, Tsunade and Jiraiya appeared beside their teacher. Both senins looked unusually serious. "Hitsuka, are you really sure that Orochimaru will come," the Hokage asked calmly as if he was just wondering what the weather was like that day.

Hitsuka nodded somewhat miserably. "Chuunin selection exam is the best time to get into Konoha undetected due to the heavy trafficking in and out," he said, noticing with little amusement the lines between the senins' eyebrows increased in number rapidly. "Orochimaru will enter with his Oto-nins (2) to grab Uchiha Sasuke at the first chance they can get."

"Sensei, why not just cancel the exam? Then Orochimaru," Jiraiya spat the name out, "won't be able to get his sorry behind through Konoha gates!"

Even Hitsuka sighed at the man's show of stupidity.

"Listen, Jiraiya," Tsunade started, wondering if her old team mate had always been this dim, "if we suddenly call off the exam, not only will we lose the income it'll bring, we'll also lose our credibility with other Villages."

Jiraiya went, "Ohh…"

Tsunade then turned to Hitsuka and asked, "But, how come you are so sure that he will go after Sasuke? Surely there's other Uchiha for him to pick?"

"Because Sasuke is his brother."

There was no need for him to elaborate who he was.

The Third cleared his throat. "Since we know he will be here, I've informed everyone with the rank of chuunin and above to keep an eye on anyone suspicious. There shouldn't be any trouble in spotting him."

'I sure as hell hope so,' Hitsuka thoughts, a sense of forbidding washed over him. He gave himself a firm mental shake. 'Trust Hokage-sama, everything will be fine!'

_The next day_

Everyone had agreed to meet up in front of a little restaurant before entering the building where the exam would hold together. With Naruto, Hitsuka and Haku being the first group to arrive, those who came after them all received a noisy greeting from the sun-kissed boy. First, it was Sasuke, then the Suna siblings with Sakura arriving shortly after.

Sakura's appearance came as a surprise. Ditching her usual red and green garments, she was now wearing a pair of comfortable, three quarter khaki pants; as for the upper-body, she had a black, sleeveless turtleneck underneath a hooded, moss-green coat. Everyone stared, causing her to fidget. "What?" she demanded hotly, "Can't a girl change her looks?"

Fully equipped and ready, they marched in with jokes and laughter surrounding and protecting them from the gloomy atmosphere like a barrier. Hitsuka was just telling Gaara about Naruto's habit of sleeping with his fox doll much to the sunny boy's embarrassment, when they were stopped by a crowd in front if room 301.

Lee was on the ground, wiping blood from his split lip. Two chuunins stood above him, sneering. "Hah!" one yelled, "you plan to take the chuunin exam with that? You should quit now."

"You're just a little kid," the other chuunin added and his companion agreed with enthusiasm.

"Please," Tenten pled, "let us through…" She bravely stepped forward but was instantly backhanded. She landed next to Lee and Neji looked worried. A cloud of murmuring rose from the increasing crowd, "How horrible!" "To a girl!"

"What did you say?" Hagane Kotetsu smirked which widened when he saw the genins trembled. "Listen, this is our kindness," he drawled, looking just a tad too happy in breaking them. His partner, Izumo Kamizuki, was just about to start on his part of his speech like they had agreed when he was interrupted.

"Let's just go," Sakura said, pushing her team mates away from the mass.

The two chuunins, who were really the examiners, noticed this and were secretly disappointed, thinking the genins couldn't stand the pressure. That was, until they saw the tiny group wasn't going back where they came from but forward. "Where are you going?" Kotetsu asked, daring to hope.

Sasuke snorted. "To room 301, of course."

"You guys can't honestly," Naruto stressed the word, "believe we'll fall for a tick this simple?" He beckoned at Neji with his hand. "Come on, Neji-nii-san! I know you know but if you stay any longer, you'll ruin the PT's reputation!" (3)

The pupil-less boy only gave a laugh in response to this.

Glad that someone noticed the trick, Kotetsu decided to give the small group a bit more trouble before letting them go. "Not bad, but all you did was see through it!" he yelled, aiming a swift kick at the genin his instinct told him was the weakest.

The white-haired boy did nothing to protect himself which gave the chuunin a greater shock when a wall of sand shot up between them. Surprised, he toppled backwards and got out of the way of a sand fist the size of his upper torso just in time. There were, however, two kunais at his neck, both aiming for his external carotid artery and a palm on his back which, no doubt, belonged to the Hyuuga.

"That's enough, you guys," he heard the who-he-thought-was-the-weakest boy said and felt the surrounding genins backed off. "Thank you."

'Who the hell's this!? To be able to command and receive protection from the others and even, even the monster of Suna!' the two chuunins thought, discreetly slipping away with the belief that their life were now on the line.

The group went on like nothing had happened with Team Gai tagging along.

_In front of room 301_

Kakashi sweat-dropped when he saw the mass of people moving towards him. "Yo! Kakashi-sensei," Naruto greeted and made a move to open the door. He was yanked backed by a gloved-hand. "What? Let me go!"

"You guys go in first, I need to speak to my team," Kakashi explained, directing the others towards the door while dropping Naruto behind him. Knowing that from now on, they were officially not part of Team 7, Haku and Hitsuka walked into the room as well. They didn't need to stay to know what was being said anyway.

With the sudden entry of a large group, every genins in the room turned to study their possible future enemies. Being subjected to such deep and hostile scrutiny, the newly arrived Konoha genins faltered slightly in their steps.

Hitsuka looked over at Haku and yawned behind his hand, causing the boy to giggle. The two boys, already holding higher ranks than what they were currently aiming for, had faced and experienced situation far worse than this. They were pretty much used to it. Living with one Momochi Zabuza helped, too.

Sasuke and Sakura came in after them, having already finished the encouraging pep talk with their sensei. Both, too, tensed under the pressure, looking around them with their hands unconsciously searching for the reassurance of their weapons. It, whatever it was, was suffocating the genins.

"What are you guys doing, blocking the doorway like that?" Naruto barraged in from between his team mates, dissipating the thick air as he went. He soon tripped over his own feet, showing of the true grace of a ninja by crashing into the ground, face first. "Ow…"

"Sasuke-kun!" a girl screeched, launching herself at the boy of her dream. "I haven't seen you for such a long time! Did you miss me?" she continued, circling the boy's neck with her arms. Wait, since when did Sasuke-kun had pink hair?

"Let go of me, Ino-pig. I don't swing that way," Sakura growled, pushing her stupefied friend off her. She could feel goose bumps rising on her skin.

"Hell YEAH! No touching MY Sasuke-kun!" Inner Sakura cheered loudly, pumping her fists. It seemed that the pink-haired girl had got in between her rival and crush just in time.

"Urgh! What do you think you're doing! Forehead-girl!" Ino shrieked, rubbing her arms as if to get rid of a disease. With sparks flying, hell fire spitting, the two jealousy-filled cats circled each other, hissing. Attempting to break up the cat fight in case they were thrown out of the exam, Hitsuka was just about to say something when someone else beat him to it.

"Hey, you guys should quieten down."

He did not need to look to know that is was Yakushi Kabuto, Orochimaru's right-hand man. A shiver ran through him which he realised with astonishment that it was anticipation.

"You guys are rookies just out of the Academy, right?" Kabuto continued, adjusting his glasses in annoyance. The Gai Team made noises of protest. "Geez, screaming like a bunch of school girls, this isn't a picnic."

Scrunching up her nose, Ino fumed. How dare this prick spoke to her Sasuke-kun like that! "Who do you think you are!" she screeched, thankfully within human hearing pitch range. A soft murmur of agreement rose from the group.

Kabuto gave a mock bow, righting his glasses again when he straightened his back. "I'm Kabuto, but instead of that," he pointed, "look behind you."

Turning as one, the genin shuddered when they noticed their cheerful attitude had drawn unwanted attention. They looked at each other solemnly, unsure as to how they should react. Both Haku and Hitsuka shrugged. They had seen worst glares than those from the Amegakure (4) nins.

When the boys, those who had been given special permission from the Hokage himself to be on a two men team, did not react the way had expected, Kabuto shrugged and continued, "Well, I can't blame you, you bunch of clueless rookie. You remind me of how I used to be."

Haku tapped his team mate on the shoulder, drawing his gaze while the strange teenager had his attention on the others. "Hitsuka…"

"Haku? What is it?"

Haku kept his eyes on Kabuto and whispered, "I don't trust him. My senses are going haywire with distrust."

Hitsuka raised an eyebrow at this and was amazed by just how keen his friend's senses were. He nodded slowly. "There's not much we can do but watch," he replied to which Haku agreed reluctantly.

"Nin-info cards?" Sakura asked, her thirst of knowledge drew the two boys back to their conversation.

"They are basically cards which have information burned on to them with chakra. I have four years worth of info here, over two hundred cards," Kabuto explained and was delighted by the blank looks around him. After all, he looked like he was treating two hundred blank cards with utmost care. "You can't view them unless I use my chakra, for example…" He placed his finger on a card and with a _poof_ a map of the world appeared.

"Do you have information on individuals?" Sasuke asked, curious.

Kabuto chuckled understandingly. "There are some guys you're worried about?"

Sasuke shook his head. "Just my curiosity. Any information on…" he looked around, eyes searching for his victims, "Gaara of the Desert and Yuki Hitsuka?"

Hitsuka looked slightly surprised at being named and Gaara not so much. Interested, all the Konoha genins and the Suna siblings leaned in, wanting to see if this Kabuto could have unearthed any secrets.

Hands flashed as it picked out two blank cards from the pile. With a finger on each, he activated his info cards with his chakra. "Gaara of the Desert…" he read off the card, "Mission history, C-rank: 8, B-rank: 1, wow a B-rank mission as a genin… Since he's a new comer from a foreign country I don't have much info but… it seems he returned from all of his missions without even a scratch!"

"I never knew you were that strong!" Naruto said, awed.

"Well…" Gaara looked down, his face pink. The boy was used to dealing with fear, anger and killing intent, but rarely respect. He was happy.

"And as for Yuki Hitsuka…" Kabuto flicked a quick glance at the boy himself who did not miss it. "Mission history, D-rank: 7, C-rank: 1, B- and A-rank: unknown."

"Wait a second, there's nothing about A-rank mission on Gaara-kun's card as he presumably hasn't done them, yet there are question marks beside Hitsuka's. He was on our team and we sure haven't done any. Why's that?" Sakura asked, unknowingly put Hitsuka and Naruto on guard. As an anbu, Hitsuka had done more dangerous missions than those on the card but of course, but this knowledge could not be paraded.

Kabuto looked genuinely frustrated. "I know there's more about him yet no matter how hard I try, I cannot find any more information!" He pushed his glasses, again. "It's just…"

Hitsuka let loose a sigh of relief that went unnoticed. "That was close," Naruto whispered.

"Well, Konoha, Suna, Ame, Kusa, Taki and Oto (5)… many outstanding genins from the various villages are here to take the exam. Well… the Otogakure is a small village just create last year so there isn't much information but the rest of the villages are filled with talented youngsters."

As soon as Kabuto said that, Hitsuka could pick up killing intents from a corner. Amused as he knew that, despite the fact that Kabuto was an Oto-nin, the Oto-genins were truly pissed off by the comment anyway. Didn't really care what was going to happen, he took his time looking at their possible enemies. With his meddling, who knew if the surviving teams would remain the same this time?

When the Oto-genins launched their attacks on Kabuto, Hitsuka stood calmly on the side and watched. 'How do you overcome an attack that's in the form of sound wave?' he wondered as Kabuto leaned over and retched. Even though Haku was still wary of the just-met teen, the doctor in him caused him to hand Kabuto his drink bottle.

"Thanks…" the four year veteran muttered and choked slightly.

"Quiet down, you worthless bastards!" a voice commanded loudly accompanied by a bellow of smoke.

The examiners were here.

"Thanks for waiting," the head examiner smirked, "I am Morino Ibiki, the examiner for the chuunin selection exam's first test."

Several genins gulped and backed away slightly. Some even started to have thoughts of leaving this exam and enter the next one. But not Naruto and co. They were ready! So please, had the exam started already!

_The start of the exam_

"The exam will last for an hour," Ibiki said, his deep voice easily carried across the silent room. "Ok… BEGIN!" Immediately, everyone turned over their paper in fear of not having enough time in the end to finish it. Soft, horrified gasps rose when the readers discovered just how hard each question was.

'Boring…' Hitsuka thought, his head nearly slid off from its resting place on his hand. It was not that he had already done all the questions as it was only thirty-three seconds into the hour. He fiddled with his pencil and started printing his name on the top of the paper, drawing a border around each question, yawned, dodged the kunai (which was suspiciously close to his head) that landed on an unfortunate soul's exam paper, etc.

He slapped himself, twice, and scolded himself for being so lazy and got started. It was only forty past four, fifty minutes to go.

'What the hell was that boy doing!?' Kotetsu thought after nearly falling off his seat in disbelief. He was assigned to watch that part of the room with Hitsuka happened to be sitting in front of him. So, it wasn't hard for him, and the other examiners for that matter, to notice the strange antics of the boy.

Casting his eye sight further, he concentrated on doing his job. 'Three times now,' he noted when he caught the kunoichi clumsily peeked at the paper beside her and tallied it. 'I don't think they understand the point of the test yet…'

A rustle of turning paper caught his attention and he swivelled around to discover Hitsuka napping on his overturned exam paper. 'Has he finished already!?' he wondered, his fingers itching to pull the paper from underneath him to check, and if the boy flew off the table during the process, even better.

But, unfortunately, he was a professional.

To a normal genin, the exam was unbearably hard and was next to impossible to answer. But Hitsuka was no normal genin so it was all too easy for him. He was confident that the others would either be able to answer the questions themselves or understood the objective of the exam and had cheated. For now, he was going to catch up on some lost sleep.

He was obviously in a deep sleep, or pretending to be, as he didn't even stir when the poor Suna-genin was slammed into the wall by the bandage-guy and Ibiki's big speech and mind-play on the others. More teams left the room than the original time-line, a.k.a. manga, as every member of Team 7 had saw through the trick and Naruto wasn't about to do anything about it, fearing for the wrath of a certain pink-haired someone. Even the cheering and Ibiki's lecture did nothing to the sleeping boy.

He did raise his head when a dark mass came crashing through the window. "YOU GUYS! THIS IS NO TIME TO BE CELEBRATING!" a woman, who identified herself as Mitarashi Anko, yelled, the flag behind her flapped. Everyone sweat-dropped comically.

"Bad timing," Ibiki muttered and Anko gave him a withering glare.

'Kami-sama help me. She's crazier than I had imagined,' Hitsuka thought, kind of wishing he was really asleep.

'This examiner is so Naruto-ish,' Sakura thought with a shudder. This world did not need two Narutos.

Anko did a quick head count and was pleasantly surprised with the result. "Fifty-three, eighteen teams left, not bad," she commented, not forgetting about the unique two-man team. With some directing and commanding, she had every genins that were left out of the room. She was undoubtedly shivering in anticipation.

Soon, Ibiki was left alone in the room, collecting the useless test papers. He was surprised by how many genins got every questions right without cheating. He could tell from the papers; the confident strokes of the pencil, rubbed out marks, and so on. Making a swift list in his mind, excluding names with well-known Kekkei Genkai abilities such as the Sharingan and Byakugan, he came up with a list which included Haruno Sakura, Haku, Yuki Hitsuka and Gaara of the Suna. It was good to know that there were such bright youngsters.

_At the __Forest__ of __Death_

"Welcome," Anko almost chortled with glee, "to the stage for the second test, Practice Arena 44, also known as the Forest of Death." She turned to face them with a dangerous smirk on her lips. "You'll soon find out why it is called the Forest of Death."

Sasuke looked past the wired fence and had to agree with its name. But he wasn't afraid, far from it. "Ha! There's nothing to be afraid of," he murmured.

"Yeah, this looks like my backyard!" Naruto agreed and the two boys high-fived like the good mates that they were.

Hitsuka smiled. "Since when do we have a backyard?" he asked with good humour, causing Naruto to stutter and blush.

Anko grinned happily. "You guys sure are spirited," she commented lightly. Then a kunai slid out of her sleeve and was sent flying.

Hitsuka easily caught the weapon that was aiming for Sasuke's face, knowing that the boy's fans would be devastated if any harm was done to their Sasuke-sama's face. Naruto moved to stand back-to-back with his best friend therefore putting himself in between Sasuke and the examiner. Sakura turned on the heels and brought up her hands in defence and offence. Then, everyone stopped moving.

The woman found the girl of the team was holding a shuriken at her neck, a kunai at her heart from the blond and another at her stomach from the brunet. She gave a low whistle, impressed. "Not bad. Not bad at all," she praised which was rare and watched as the genins back off slightly. It was then she gave a non-noticeable start as she felt the cold touch of metal on the other side of her neck, finally betraying the presence behind her. Her fingers twitched and another kunai was instantly in her hand, which she used to parry her own weapon away.

"Here's your kunai, Mitarashi-san," Hitsuka said with a bright smile on his face.

Thrown off by this sudden innocence, Anko accepted it without any complaint. "Thanks?" She had thought Team 7 was good with their almost impeccable teamwork, but this boy, he was on a different level. She had heard from her sempai, who had told her about the concerns Sandaime-sama had about the boy nine years ago. The boy was three at the time. 'What had this world come to?' she wondered.

Hitsuka withdrew his arm, feeling goose-bumps rising as he felt blood lust from the purple-haired woman. He laughed nervously and quickly backed away while Anko explained the second test.

"That was interesting," Haku remarked and Hitsuka grinned at his team-mate.

They both went to line up after signing their agreement forms without hesitation. This time round, nine teams would get the Heaven scroll and the other nine the Earth scroll. From Hitsuka's observation, there were more Konoha teams left than the other villages. That was good as it was high time to find who was the best genin from Konoha, even though Team H2 had some advantages.

By the way, Team H2 was Haku and Hitsuka. Unlike the other teams, they were put together so hastily that they weren't given an official name. Since both boys had their names started with H when written in romaji, so they were H2. Both Haku and Hitsuka denied that it was them who came up with the name and an old man up in the Konoha HQ sneezed.

After receiving their scroll, the Heaven one, they moved off to stand in front of No. 30 gate. It was as far as Hitsuka could get away from the mystery Kusa genins whom he feared were Orochimaru and his lackeys. It was always better to be safe than sorry, which was why he had asked Team 7 to go to gate No. 31 or No. 29.

When they arrived, the two teams nodded their heads at each other. "May the best Team wins," Hitsuka said solemnly and they agreed.

The gates swung open under Anko's loud command and the second test had begun.

"Hand over your scroll!" Naruto hollered, rounding on the nearest group.

"Eat dirt, you moron!" Sakura yelled, hitting the said moron on the head with power that even surprised Sasuke.

Naruto spat out the mouthful of leaves and dirt and glared at the white-haired boy. "You've been teaching Sakura-chan, haven't you?!" he accused, his pride wounded. This must had been a record for getting an injury ten seconds into the test.

"I… just passed on whatever Tsunade-sama taught me," Hitsuka said, his grin told them everything.

'Scary…' Haku thought, the newest member of the group, thought, moving slightly away from the two medic-nins in training (even though he was one of them).

"Besides," Hitsuka went on as he checked their surroundings, "we both have the Heaven scroll, so ours won't do much for you anyway."

Sasuke jerked his head in surprise while Naruto just shrugged. "Wait, how did you know that?" he asked, his voice hinted his suspicion.

"Se-cre-t."

If he could, Sasuke would learn to throttle Hitsuka with his eyes.

Sakura, being the girl that she was, broke up the one-sided fight. "I think we should finish this test as soon as possible. That way, we'll be able to have more time to prepare ourselves for the next test," she reasoned and the others agreed. "First thing, though," she pulled out some dark materials and handed them to Naruto and Hitsuka, "us three need to cover our hair as they are too bright."

"But it'll ruin my hair style," Naruto joked but was silenced with a collection of glares.

Pinning his hair up before tying the scarf over his head, Hitsuka went on to make sure that Naruto got his own on properly. "Thanks, Sakura-san. This is a really good idea." The girl grinned happily at Hitsuka's praise.

"Well, let's get out of this place," Haku prompted and the group set off.

_At gate No. 13_

'How did I get to be so far away from Sasuke-kun?' Orochimaru, under the disguise of the Kusa-genin whose identity he stole, thought. But that didn't really matter; he had enough followers in this forest to tell him the whereabouts of the boy when he needed it.

That was, if the blasted gate in front of him would open.

"There was no way we would let you in, Orochimaru," he heard a familiar voice spat out his name like spitting out acid before it could make a hole on the tongue.

He grinned, slightly surprised at how his cover was so easily taken apart. "Why, if it is not our dear old friend, Jiraiya."

"Don't act friendly with me!" the toad-senin replied coldly, holding his rising temper down with increasing difficulty. "We are here to stop you." At this, the hidden anbus and jounins revealed their presences and surrounded the trio.

Orochimaru did not look impressed. "You don't honestly believe you can stop me with this pitiful group, do you?"

"I don't know, what about throwing in another senin into the mix?" a new voice entered the conversation. Tsunade walked up to stand by Jiraiya, her body tensed.

"And your former student," Anko added, joining the dark reunion.

The snake-senin was still not worried. "How did you know?" he asked, his face split by a deadly grin. "I've covered my tracks and no one under my command would betray me."

The Konoha-nins did not reply as most of them did not know the answer, only the two senins knew. It wasn't likely that they were in the willing mood to share. "Trade secret," Tsunade muttered even though it did not make any sense at all.

"Well, no matter." Orochimaru shrugged. "Now, move."

It was as if someone had shoved some ice down the surrounding ninjas' backs as a prank. Being the first ones to recover from the killing intent, Jiraiya launched his attack with Tsunade following right behind him.

What happened next awed the witnessing eyes. Being the old team mates thus knowing the others' habits and flaws, attacks were executed at them without mercy. Orochimaru, the genius of the three senins, held his ground, his followers were long dead. But he was forced back, slowly, as the other two senins covered each other's weakness and worked perfectly together.

Yet, he was still smiling. Enraged by this, Anko went into the fight from her ex-teacher's blind spot, paying no heed to the warnings and prevention from her peers. Raising a fist, she aimed and threw. Then she jumped out of the way of the slippery long tongue but her arms were caught.

"Orochimaru!" she yelled, "Senei Jashuu!" Snakes burst out from her sleeves and latched on to the tongue. Dragging and heaving, she threw Orochimaru off balance which was all the invitation the other senins needed.

Coming down upon the trapped man with their final attack, Jiraiya with a moon-like Rasengan and Tsunade a power-up fist, the earth protested loudly when it erupted and flew outwards in chucks and dust.

When the debris cleared, however, the result was disappointing. They had expected to see a critically injured man but, instead, there was a mound of dirt in the shape of a human on the ground. Eerily, Orochimaru's subordinate's dead body started talking.

"Better luck next time, my fellow Konoha ninjas. I've an errand to run so I can't play with you."

If there were any more messages, the group of ninjas would not be able to hear it as Jiraiya had slammed another Rasengan into the messenger's head. This 'hero' of the day, however, received a powered-up punch to his head.

"What in the devil's name was that for!?" the man screeched in pain, gingerly touching the growing bump.

Tsunade huffed. "I want to have a go at him, too."

While the great senins childish bickered, Anko walked up to them. "Umm… Tsunade-sama, Jiraiya-sama, shouldn't we go after him?"

It was as if someone had switched off the TV button that was airing a comedy show, the two senins once again became sober.

"We have to… After all, we can't let him finish his 'unfinished' business on our turf," Jiraiya snarled, knowing well what the dangerous man had meant. He started issuing orders and only when he was satisfied did he left the gate, chasing after Tsunade. "Tsunade-hime! Wait for me!"

_Day 2: __At where our beloved genins were_

"Hand over your scroll, now!"

The small group looked up at the three older intruders and did not respond. Believing that they had the upper hand, the Taki genins smirked evilly as their leader continued, "You foolish Konoha brats, not even fit to call yourselves ninjas. You barged into our territory and you're right in the centre of our traps. Give up your scrolls and we shall let you go unharmed."

The girl on the team whimpered, clutching the sleeve of her dark-haired team mate tightly. "Sasuke-kun..."

"Ha-Haku!" the white-haired genin breathed, hiding behind the boy.

The blond stepped forward bravely. "I'll protect you all!" he yelled, his lips trembling.

It was at this point that Naruto could no longer contain his laughter, much to the confusion and anger of their enemies. "What are you laughing at!?" one yelled, his face an ugly red.

Naruto peered up; his eyes glinted in a predatory fashion that contradict his previous smiling face. "It is you who walked into our traps," he said with a grin. At his words, a net erupted from underneath the Taki genins' feet, unbalancing them.

Being the quickest to react, the leader of the team leapt, pulling his team mates along by the scruffs of their necks. Unfortunately, this was expected and planned for as a log – one that would take at least five people to encircle it with their arms – came propelling towards them.

A screech tore its way out from someone's throat when the piece of wood came close to beheading him. The log missed its target as the fact that the leader could not jump as high with the added weight of his comrades was not taken into consideration. But the Taki genins' triumph was short lived as well-aimed kunais pinned them securely on a random tree trunk by their clothes.

"That's done," Sasuke muttered, dropping down from his hiding place, followed by his companions. The ones next to Naruto disappeared in a burst of smoke, revealing that they were merely bunshins.

"How can this be!? Where are our traps!" the Taki leader yelled angrily, trying to fight for his freedom against the unyielding weapons.

After a series of hand seals from Hitsuka, the other two Taki genins felled into a forced sleep. The white-haired boy then answered the question, "We disabled each and every one of them, saving one last one to lure you guys in."

"We then triggered it, and you guys came like flies to flame," Naruto finished.

"It's 'moths' not flies," Haku corrected, his comment coloured the boy's cheeks.

The Taki genin shook with silent anger, both at himself and the Konoha residents. He couldn't believe that their carefully planned traps were so easily taken apart, just like his team. What's more, those brats also use their own device to trick them! How could they, those cursed brats!

"Enough said," Sakura ended the conversation. "If you will just give us your scroll, we will let you go unharmed."

"Shut up, bitch!" the boy yelled in anger. Sakura drew back, stung by his manner. Or so he thought since he soon came well acquainted with her fist. His last thought was, 'How the hell did this happen…"

"Ass hole…" the only female in the clearing muttered, brandishing her fist. Her friends sweated profoundly having been once again reminded the reason not to anger Haruno Sakura. "Also, Naruto! What was that bit of 'act' with the bunshins? Huh?"

"I would like to know myself, too," Hitsuka said, smiling erringly.

"Aha, ha..." Naruto backed away slowly, and quickly turned to pick through the Taki genin's pocket. Finally found the scroll they were looking for. Luckily, it was an Earth scroll. "Hurray!" Naruto cheered loudly, his voice echoed around him.

"Idiot!" Sasuke hissed, his fist came out of nowhere and instantly silenced the hyper boy. Leaving the idiot behind counting the non-existent floating stars that circled his head, the brunet went to discuss their next step with the rest of the group.

Sakura, as she tugged the scroll into a hidden compartment, said, "Since we all have the scrolls we need, let's head for the tower while it's still light. We only have three more days left."

Haku had left the group for a while the day before and had soon returned with an Earth scroll. Sasuke swore he had heard screams just moments before. Hitsuka claimed he knew nothing which no one really believed.

Suddenly, a chill ran down Hitsuka's spine, causing goose bumps to rise on his arms. He casually glanced about – no point putting his friends on alert, wasting precious energy – looking for the _thing_ that was making him all edgy. There was nothing, but he knew, soon there would be _something_. Something that they could not handle.

"Everyone, move out. NOW!" he commanded, the urgency clear in his voice.

Slightly surprised at the usual gentle boy's tone, the group still took off as they knew Hitsuka's senses were much sharper than theirs. Making their way quickly through the forest on tree tops, Hitsuka still could not fight off the growing anxiety. He knew who was after them as there was only one man that could give of such cold and calculating aura.

The moment they started to run, the feeling of someone's presence disappeared completely, leaving only an uncomfortable sensation on the white-haired boy's conscience. 'He knows,' Hitsuka realised, 'so he's hiding himself.' His breath became faster and irregular as the pressure of an unknown predator slowly weighed him down.

"Hitsuka!"

A calm voice startled him. He turned to the speaker and nodded his thanks. "Don't worry, Haku. I'm alright," he assured the boy, his heart beat slowed to normal.

A slight change in the air was the only warning the group received before a huge gust of wind came crashing through them from their right. Everyone gritted their teeth and bore the multiple needle prick-like pain as debris picked up by the wind rained down on them. Gripping the ground with their chakra, they managed to stay together in a group.

'So soon,' Hitsuka thought with a grimace.

Now standing in front of them was a Kusa genin. "Well, well, well…" he muttered and slowly lifted his straw hat off, revealing prey-like eyes and gleaming white teeth. Everyone was on alert, hands hovering over their weapons. The man smirked. "I've got what you want," he said, pulling out an Earth scroll. He then ate it, allowing it to slide down his throat with no resistance. "Now let's begin… the battle for each other's scroll." He paused, and _looked_.

"With our lives on the line."

Death, it was all that they could think about. Images of imagined battles which all resulted in their deaths played in their minds. When they came to with a start, they were surprised to find themselves still alive and unharmed.

'Genjutsu?' Sasuke wondered, then leaned over and retched. 'No, this is just fear! This is worse than that time with Zabuza.' Sakura was stunned, crying silently as she could not find the will to fight. She gulped and began to hiccup. Naruto's dried hand on her arm did nothing to comfort her as he was in no better condition.

Two shadows covered them, shielding them from the horrible man's view. "Haku, we'll need help with this one," Hitsuka whispered, his facial expression tensed. He gave his team mate a strained smile.

"Ah…" Haku agreed. Even they, under this man's killing intent, could not stop their legs from shaking.

'Hitsuka… Haku…' the three kids on the ground thought dumbly.

"Not bad, you actually managed to stand," the Kusa-nin said, smirking. "But will that be enough?" His hand flicked and kunais were flying towards the Konoha-nins. They were easily stopped by the duo but this was what Orochimaru was counting on.

While they were busy fighting off the oncoming weapons, a snake the size of a small house appeared from the undergrowth and aimed for the stunned ninjas. Sasuke, wanting to protect his friends, rose staggeringly up to a crouching position. But the looming snake brought forward the unwanted memory of the killing intent and _his_ eyes; he was once again frozen into place. He could only watch as the snake's wide open mouth came closer and closer.

Hitsuka grinded his teeth together and made up his mind. With a whisper of apology from the back of his mind, he allowed a shuriken to pass him. Wincing in pain, Naruto managed to snap out from the hypnotising gaze and brought his team mates to safety by pushing them to one side. 'Thanks, Hitsuka.'

'Oh…' the Kusa-nin, in fact Orochimaru, thought, 'he purposely injured his team mate to let the pain override his fear.' He grinned. 'How interesting…'

Haku, trusting Hitsuka would protect his back, turned to check on the younger kids. "Take deep breaths," he reminded them, taking down the large creature without difficulty. When he was sure that they were better, he smiled and quickly bandaged Naruto's injured arm. "Don't let your panic cloud your judgement. Calm down and you will be able to bring out the power within you."

Warmed by this reassurance, the trio managed to find their confidence back and stood up in their fighting stances. "Finally, you guys are back," Hitsuka said with a sigh, still fending off the multiple weapons.

"Sorry about that," Sasuke muttered, the fire coming back into his eyes, dying it red.

"Yeah, we still gotta take down this freak!" Naruto yelled.

Sakura was quiet, trying to get her concentration back. Tightening and losing her fists, she managed to breathe easier and stood straighter. Lifting her head and everyone could see she meant business.

For some reason, she was the only one that gave Hitsuka greater confidence. 'No offense to the other two,' the white haired boy thought with little guilt. They all knew that there was no time to plan for the upcoming battle so they have to trust their own instincts, trainings and teamwork.

Tired of waiting, Orochimaru was the one to commence the next stage of fight. Quickly summoning another snake with ease, he commanded it to attack the small group while disappearing himself.

Sasuke, being the first to notice the new creature, flung out deadly projectiles but did not succeed in killing it. He grunted in pain when the snake's tail wrapped itself around him and squeezed.

"Get off him, you creep!" Naruto yelled, leaping into the fight only to be batted away by the snake's neck. "Gua!" Slamming against a tree, he immediately coughed up blood.

Worries filled Sasuke as he struggled to loosen the bound around. "Naruto!"

'Eat him,' this though went through the large creature's mind and it gladly obliged. Opening his mouth to catch his falling prey, it could not hide its happiness at having such a nutritious meal.

"Eat THIS!" Naruto cried, punching the reptile's nose with a powerful hit. 'Thanks, Father,' he thought and could hear the deep rumbles that was Kyuubi's reply.

Despite this, the snake was still able to gulp the sunny boy down on its second try. 'Crap, why does this kind of things always happen to me!' Naruto, currently 'food', mentally screeched, kicking at the roof of his capture's mouth.

Unable to believe that their little team was taken out so fast, Sakura stepped forward, being the last one to take the challenge. Throwing aside all thoughts and questions about Naruto's new power, she took a deep breath, and lifted her fists. "Ha!" she screamed, blowing the snake's brain out. Freeing Naruto was only a bonus.

Brushing dead things off his body, Naruto started muttering darkly under his breath. If Haku and Hitsuka weren't trying to fight off the mad man who was trying to kill them, they would have been breathless from all the laughing they did. The thing was, they could not spare a moment of distraction to even glance at the fighting trio behind them, if the kunai at Haku's neck was saying something.

Slightly flattered that they had been chosen first to be Orochimaru's opponents, Hitsuka couldn't help but curse at the man. 'You stupid... huge... pain in the ARSE!' he mentally screamed as his mouth was full of Orochimaru's arm muscle, trying to stop the death of his partner. He then decided, next time he train, he would train his jaw muscle, just for the time when his arms were tied and paralyzed by a couple of small, poisonous snakes to a tree.

Feeling incredibly stupid, Hitsuka bit down hard enough to draw blood, distracting Orochimaru long enough to free Haku, who immediately retaliated, sending out spears of ice at his enemy's face and upper body. He had also freed his team mate from the small reptiles.

Easily dodging the weapons, Orochimaru flexed his muscles and jerked his arm free of Hitsuka's teeth. Licking his own blood off with a smirk, he slowly said, "Things are just getting more interesting..." Standing straight up, this sudden movement caused the duo to leap back in defence.

'If we kept this up, this will never end,' Haku thought in annoyance, both at the lack of his ability and the current situation. 'If I must... I'll use my own life...'

A hand shot out to grab his arm.

"Haku-san," Hitsuka whispered dangerously, "don't you dare..." He paused then grinned. "Otherwise I'll kill you myself first."

Drew back as if he was burned, Haku smirked. "I'll keep that in mind."

Satisfied with the answer, Hitsuka turned back to the matters at hand, drawing out the snakes poison with his chakra. 'Close contact is a definite no-no, that would be plain suicidal,' he thought, slowly shook his left hand. He relaxed slightly at Haku's replying nod. Running forward and jumped, Haku's hands moved at top speed, sending out spears of ice once again.

"Same attacks won't work on me!" Orochimaru warned them with a crazy laugh. Haku smirked, surprised the man slightly.

Appearing from behind Haku's falling body was Hitsuka, already at the final stage of his jutsu. "Nemurihane no Jutsu," he whispered. (6)

'A genin can perform level A jutsu?' Orochimaru marvelled, effortlessly cancelled the Genjutsu with a whisper of: "Kai." This distraction had cost him.

A string, weighed by a kunai on one end, circled and tightened around the man with kunai digging deep into his tight. "Sasuke, your turn!" Naruto shouted, throwing his end of string the said boy.

Biting the string, Sasuke grinned. 'Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu.'

Fire snaked its way towards the bounded man who merely smirked at the oncoming attack. Lighted on fire, Orochimaru started to cackle. "Able to predict my movements and attack from my blind spot," he said, extinguishing the flames. He looked straight at Sasuke, freezing him. "To be able to use the Sharingan so well at this age, you truly are excellent."

"Just as I thought... I want you."

Hitsuka sucked in a breath soundlessly and fell on to his knees. 'So... cold,' he thought numbly, memories of that night at the Uchiha mansion when he first came in contact with the Curse Seal rose to the front. Staring dazedly at the scene before him, he could only conjure up one though: 'This is worst...'

Brushing his forehead-protector, the sign of Otogakure appeared on Orochimaru's head. "I had fun testing your power," he said. "You really are Itachi's little brother but I sense power in you that surpasses Itachi."

Looking around, Sasuke could see all his team mates were frozen. "Who the hell are YOU!?" he yelled, both in fright and anger.

"My name is Orochimaru. If you want to see me again, then survive and pass this exam." His hands started to make seals. "And defeat my men, the Oto-nin trio on the way."

**It****'****s him!** a voice screamed inside Naruto's mind. **How could I have not noticed before!**

"We'd never want to see your face again!" Sakura shouted, her body trembling from her effort in freeing herself from the hold.

Finishing his seal, Orochimaru said softly, "But he will... If he wishes to seek the power that will defeat his brother," before his neck extended, flying towards Sasuke's immobilized body.

_Itachi whispered, only loud enough for the boy in front of him to hear, "Please promise me that you'll look after Sasuke for me, no matter what. Please."_

"You don't even need to ask. I promise," Hitsuka echoed himself from the past. A sudden, unknown power filled his body, pushing him forward.

Then pain erupted like a volcano. Hot, white pain burned through his veins, bruising and frying his nerves. Squeezing his eyes shut, he bit his now bloody lips to hold back his screams. But it was too much. "Gyaa! AHH, AHH... GYAAHHHH!"

"HITSUKA!" Sasuke screamed, horrified. Anyone would be, too, if they saw their best friend being bitten on the chest by a psycho. He watched as a symbol of some sort appeared on Hitsuka's skin between his collarbones in a sickly purple. 'What is this!?'

Orochimaru pulled back, angry that his plan was once again foiled. Going in to strike again, he almost tied his neck into a pretzel when he saw the white-haired boy opened his unfocused eyes.

They were his eyes. Split-pupil where it wasn't before, _like him_. Eyes like snakes, _like him_. Gold eyes... _like him?_ They had brought up a distant memory.

His head did drive itself into a leafy branch when his mind came to realisation. Looking very unlike his usual self, he muttered around the leaves in his mouth, "This boy, he can't be...!"

"Haku!" Hitsuka screamed desperately, drifting in and out of consciousness. "HAKU!"

Understood what his partner wanted, Haku grabbed his friends and hurled everyone through his mirror. Close to fainting, Hitsuka threw a handful of random smoke bombs at the forest ground. They landed heavily into a clearing a few hundreds of meters from where they were, holding their breaths in fear.

A deafening bang and a cloud of colourful smoke rose from their fighting place, signalling that Hitsuka's creations were working.

Unable to hold on anymore, the white-haired boy finally passed out from the pain, causing his friends to scramble to his care. "How is he?" Sasuke asked, unable to sit still as he believed he was the one at fault for causing his best friend's pain.

"His breathing is regular but he still has a burning fever," Haku replied, chewing on his bottom lips as did not know the reason to Hitsuka's condition. He had tried to draw out the poison both by mouth and healing chakra. Nothing had work.

Tears leaked out from Sakura's eyes, frustrated at not having enough power within her to help. "Is there nothing we can do to help him?" she asked tearfully.

"We can only protect him until we finish this test so we can get Tsunade-obaba to have a look at him," Naruto said reasonably and walked away. "That's all we can do for now..."

Sasuke came forward and punch Naruto in the face, sending the boys sliding across to the other end of the clearing. "How can you be so heartless!? He's your friend, your family!" Sasuke swiped his arm across his eyes and lift the prone figure up by the front of his jacket. "How could you..."

"Then what the hell do you want me to do," Naruto yelled, tears pouring down his cheeks. He also sent a punch at the other boy's face. With the tension so high, a fight was unavoidable. Some punches were aimed but did not land on their targets due to the tears in their eyes. Haku and Sakura tried to stop them but did not work.

"Stop..."

Immediately appearing beside the boy on the ground, the duo, both with puffy eyes, one with a split lips and the other had teeth mark on his face. "Hitsuka!" they shouted.

"Stop... your pointless fighting," he said with difficulty, his eyes still shining with fever. He raised his hand and weakly bonked the two boys on the head. His usual gesture of scolding only made the two boys wanted to cry again as it was pitifully weak. "You should... be working together!" He grinned. "Idiots, I'm fine..." As if proving his words, he fell asleep, despite a bit fitfully.

"Do as he said, let's go," Haku said, heaving and tying the sleeping boy to his back. "Come on!"

"Yes!"

_Day 3: approximately 3 __kilometres__ from the tower_

Dabbing Hitsuka's face with a wet rag, Sakura wondered what would happen today. 'I hope we won't be meeting anyone like that Orochimaru...' she thought and shivered fright, slopping more water on to the boy's face.

"Sakura! Stop!" Naruto cried, afraid that Hitsuka would drown on dry land.

Haku looked over at the two and tried to quieten them. He turned to Sasuke for help. "Sorry, busy at the moment," the brunet replied, offering a shrug as an apology. He then turned back to prepare for their breakfast.

While the four bickered, they did not notice the three pairs of eyes watching them from above. Without Hitsuka's sharper senses and Haku being so tired from constantly on his guard, they were pretty much in the dark in this area. Tired and jumpy, they were beautifully ripe for the picking.

"As Orochimaru-sama commanded, we'll attack now. Our target is Uchiha Sasuke," Dosu said, tilting his head eerily to one side.

"But if the others get in the way we can kill them, right?" Zaku asked

"Of course," Dosu confirmed with a nod of his head, now listening to the conversation below.

"Ne... when will Hitsuka-kun wake up?" Sakura asked gently, as if afraid she would disturb the sleeping boy. "To tell the truth, I feel safer with him around..."

"Same here," Haku agreed. He knew, if he and Hitsuka fight, he would probably win though with some difficulty. So it was not the white-haired boy's strength that gave him the security, it was the bubble of quiet confidence that he always had around him. And no matter what, he would always have a smile on his face.

But now...

"Don't worry," Naruto said with a grin, "he always bounces back, no matter what." While trying to reassure the others, he could not help but be worried as he could not seem to be able to find Hitsuka within his mind. He had tried to get into the other boy's mind but there was a dark shadow blocking the pathway. 'Hitsuka... you moron!'

"There's no need for him to wake up anymore."

A new voice entered the conversation, startling the Konoha genins. Jumping up, they came face to face with the three Oto-nins that Orochimaru was talking about. "Dammit, one after another...!" Sasuke snarled, tightening his fists, drawing blood.

"For he's about to die anyway," Dosu finished, laughing quietly to himself.

"We want to fight Uchiha Sasuke," Zaku said, grinning widely in anticipation.

Naruto gritted his teeth, then yelled, "What the hell do you want with us!? We know that a weirdo named Orochimaru is behind all of this!"

"And he left this creepy mark on Hitsuka's chest, causing him immense pain," Sasuke spoke, the volume of his voice picking up. "If you want to fight me, I'll fight you anytime of the day!"

Looking shocked, the Oto-trio debated amongst themselves quickly. "What the heck was that man thinking about?" Kin asked, urgency in her voice. "We were told to fight Uchiha Sasuke and that was it!"

"But now Orochimaru-sama has gone and placed his Curse Seal on one of the guys, and it's not Uchiha! Has our target been change?" Zaku said, looking at the said mark on the fallen boy.

Understanding what the problem was at hand, Dosu was unsure as to what they were supposed to do right now. Finally making up his decision, he said, "We'll just kill everyone here, including that white-haired brat. They are tired from all the stress last night so we should be fine in taking them out."

His killing intent rising, Zaku smirked. "I'll kill them all. All of them!" He ran forward but quickly drew back again, the front of his fist burnt. "What the..."

"It's the Barrier Seal!" Kin realised with a shock, now able to see the dusty explosive notes on the ground. "Dammit!" she swore.

"Don't worry, we've got the time to destroy them," Dosu calmly said, pulling out the squirrel he had caught earlier.

'It can't be...' Sakura thought, her eyes wide.

Desperately struggling, the poor creature could not escape the hold and was thrown in the deadly space. "Chu!"

Naruto knew that a squirrel's life was not worth dying for. Never less, he still moved to interpret the fall. Jumping and grabbing the squirrel by the scruff of its neck, he flipped in the air and landed on the other side.

"Thank you," Dosu said, levelling his weapon at his enemy's head and released. The vibration from the attack mercilessly assaulted Naruto's eardrums, disrupting his balance greatly. "Now we know where the boundaries of the Barrier Seals are."

"Urgh!" the boy groaned, clutching his head with one hand while sinking down to his knees. He dug his nails into his hair, angry at himself for letting his team down so easily. Even if he wanted to help them, his body was not following the instructions his brain was issuing, staying stubbornly weak instead. It was only when his hand was starting to burn did he realised the attack wasn't over. Quickly peeling the explosive tag off the squirrel's back, he cursed at the cruelty of the Oto-nins.

"I'll take the girl," Kin told her team mates, holding down her jealousy at the other girl's beauty and fine condition. 'I'll teach that wrench the hardship of life!' she promised.

Mentally sighing at the obvious reason to the girl's hate, Dosu nodded never less. "Then I'll fight the last guy. Let's go!"

Already had a slight idea to the Oto-nin's attack, Haku warned the other's not to get into close contact with the guy. They tried to keep in a group but a few minutes into the fight, they were separated, leaving only Haku in front of Hitsuka, guarding him. Flinging out multiples of sebons several times, he watched attentively as every single one of them were destroyed and deflected. All except one. 'I've found it...'

"You'll never get past my defence!" Dosu yelled, going in for the final attack. His eyes blinked in surprised pain when he felt his thigh was injured. Staring incredulously at the sebon, he lost his cool and blurted, "What the heck! How the hell did you...!?"

Haku flicked his hands, in each were sebons forming the structure of a fan. "Sound is a vibration and when two or more sources of sound clash against each other, nodes and anti-nodes are created by the crests and troughs of the waves," he explained, showing the depth of his knowledge. "I simply just need to calculate where the points of minimum disturbance are and aim there."

"That's not possible..." Dosu shook his head. "You were just damn lucky. Not possible... NOT POSSIBLE!" He attacked once again. Due to his arrogance and confidence in his ability, he did not even expect the attack until he felt the sebons pierced his skin. "Argh!" Losing the control of his limbs, he collapsed into a heap. He could only glare hatefully at his prey who was now the hunter.

"I will not let you kill Hitsuka," Haku said quietly and fervently, "not when I'm alive!" He glanced away, disgusted, and looked over at Sakura who was handling things quite well as she was tying her enemy up.

Her shorter hair did not go unnoticed.

Noticing Haku's gaze, the girl shrugged. "That kunoichi grabbed my hair and was blabbering on how well I kept it. So I cut it off and threw it in her face while giving her my best punch ever in her stomach," she said in a matter of fact tone. She laid Kin down in the fatal position just in case the girl might retch again from the punch therefore would not choke on her own stomach content. "I was thinking of getting it cut anyway."

Haku could only nod in agreement.

Zaku was furious as each one of his team mates were taken out. So far he was unable to get a decent blast at the Uchiha as he was faster than his attacks. He had only managed to eliminate large chunks of the forest. "Zankuuha!" He blasted, but Sasuke was quicker.

"Behind you," he whispered, already readied with a kunai in his hand.

Zaku smirked.

"Watch out!" Sakura yelled, sensing some kind of danger.

But it was too late. Not noticing the guy's last attack was only one-handed, Sasuke was too slow to avoid the explosion that came from the other hand. "Guah!"

"Nobody moves!" Zaku suddenly shouted, his hand aiming. "If you do, that white-haired kid is gonna get it." He was in line with Hitsuka whose team mates were too far away to protect him. Letting air pressure swept across the clearing and hitting Hitsuka, he showed them what he was capable of. To drunk on his success, he didn't notice the smoke that was coming of his target's body.

"Dammit!" Sakura swore uncharacteristically, slamming the ground with her fist. "If you dare to touch him one more time, I'll kill your team mates!" She held a kunai at Kin's neck, drawing blood. The boys were slightly surprised at this but they knew this was the only way. So they did the same to Dosu.

Shrugging, Zaku replied uncaringly, "Go ahead. They aren't my priorities, killing you guys are." He thought a bit. "But I'll need them to pass the test so, release them or I WILL kill the brat."

Bluffing or not, they held the life of their friend close to her heart so, unable to come up with anymore ideas, the Konoha genins did as they were told. As soon the sebons left his body, Dosu lashed out at Haku, his eyes blood-shot with anger. Expecting this, Haku was out of the way before he was caught. Even more furious, the Oto-nin stalked towards the two kunoichis causing Sakura quickly backed off before he reached them. "Get up, you useless lump!" he yelled, kicking at the girl.

"Gu!" Kin sat up slowly, cradling her stomach. She quickly turned her face and retched.

"Disgusting!" Zaku said happily, not at all worried about the girl. "Now you guys can help me killed these brats!"

"Bloody hell! I'll kill them all myself!" Dosu screamed, huffing from rising emotions.

"They're horrible..." Sakura breathed; astonished by the boys' harsh treatment to the girl even if they were the enemy. She flinched when Zaku directed his crazed stare on her.

"Horrible!? I'll show you horrible!" He let go off a deadly blast of wind at her.

Knowing she would never be able dodge such a close ranged attack; Sakura could only protect her head to the best of her ability. Her view blocked, she never saw Dosu coming at her. She was punched and kicked, her attempts at blocking was next to useless. Being held up by the neck, she hung limply.

"Any last word?" Dosu allowed, not in mercy but mockingly.

She grinned and spat the blood that pooled in her mouth on to the hated face below her. "For you? Never!"

Pissed, Dosu backhanded her. "Then I will make your death slow and painful!" he hissed, pulling out a kunai and then, with a cold smirk, slammed it into her.

Refusing to close her eyes and show her fear, Sakura was a bit surprised that both Naruto's and Sasuke's hands were in the way of the weapon. "You guys..."

Taking this chance, the Oto-nin pushed down, taking the two Konoha-nins with him, and pushed the kunai into the earth beneath them. Stomping on the kunai with his foot, he crowed with laughter when Naruto and Sasuke groaned with pain and Sakura screaming concern and abuse. Haku could only hold himself back, chewing on his tongue and nearly biting through it.

Coming up to share the fun, Zaku joined the torture with glee, leaving Kin to watch over the white-haired kid. "And Orochimaru-sama marked you weaklings as targets!? Don't make me laugh!" he yelled, kicking Sasuke in the stomach.

Naruto quickly held on to the impaled hand of his friend, afraid that it might just pull straight off the kunai. Weakly, Sasuke did the same when Naruto received the same treatment.

"Have you... had enough?"

This simple phrase was enough to force any activity in the clearing to stop. Whipping around to the source, the two Oto-nins found their female team mate on the ground in a dead faint while the white-haired kid was nowhere in sight.

"I'm sorry, you guys, for being such a burden."

Following the voice, Dosu and Zaku found their victims already meters away from them. The kid was the one that did the talking.

"Hitsuka... you're slow..." Naruto joked tiredly, sighing in content when Kyuubi finally had the chance to heal him. Haku had quickly come over and started treating the others.

"I'll look after them, so go and do what you must," the ex-Kiri-nin said, hitting Hitsuka's hands away. "That way we'll be able to go to the Tower as soon as possible."

"Don't just ignore us!" Zaku screeched, not believing how fast the situation was taken out from their hands. "I will definitely kill you!"

"Who are you?" Dosu asked, calming down slightly when he felt the coldness from the small boy.

Hitsuka touched where the mark was as he was unable to see it, and sighed. "I'm Yuki Hitsuka..." he said slowly, feeling the Seal pulsed under his fingers. "And I was the one that was marked by your master..."

Unable to hold back anymore, he let the Seal to run wild. Small, leaf-like shapes exploded out from his chest and quickly spread across his skin, marring it with their sickly colour. He felt disgusted at himself for embracing this dark power so quickly. Looking up at his preys, he grinned.

Coming to a sudden realisation, Dosu quickly pulled Zaku back by the arm. "He really does have the Seal! Let's go!"

Pulling himself out from the grip, Zaku clapped his hands to activate his jutsu. "There's no need to be afraid of this half-dead freak!" he shouted and fired his weapons. "Ultimate Zankuuha!" A small patch of the forest was easily destroyed and Oto-nin laughed. "Look! I've blown him away!"

"Idiot! Look behind you!" Dosu yelled, seeing the danger already.

But it was too late. With a gently press of his finger, Hitsuka had rendered his enemy to a boneless heap by his feet. Not seeing the blood that he wanted, he allowed his nails to grow and sharpened into claws. He kicked at the boy so that he was facing up and exposing his chest. "Die..." he whispered, reaching up his right hand and stabbed.

It was, however, stopped, merely a couple of centimetres away from its target. Grabbing tightly on to the hand, Hitsuka slowly forced his nails and the marks to retract, knowing how to do this even though it was his first time. "Leave..." he commanded, his voice shaky. "Or I may not be able to control my blood lust..."

Sinking down slowly, Dosu placed their team's scroll on the ground and backed off with his team mates on his back. It wasn't until he could no longer feel the killing intent did he ran with tears of shame prickling his eyes.

"Hitsuka... what has happened to you?" Haku asked, gently placing a calming hand on the other boy's shoulder. Feeling it tremble under his touch, Haku was afraid.

Straightening his back, Hitsuka smiled. "Nothing, don't worry too much about it," he said.

And was thrown to the ground. "Don't you freakin' give me that smile!" Haku yelled into the boy's face, angry lines cutting into his face. He forced the eyelid of boy beneath him opened, and continued, "You've got split-pupils, that weird mark and you were bloody growing claws before!" He grabbed the front of Hitsuka's top and shook. "And you're telling me not to worry!"

Hitsuka touched his friend's hands, not at shocked by his usual gently friend's violent action. "Haku... I can't explain my eyes or nails," he whispered, "but I can tell you, I have been poisoned by that man."

"Then we can pull the poison out!" Even though Haku knew he couldn't.

"This poison... stays with me for life as far as I know." Hitsuka smiled again. "So, don't worry about me."

Haku, calmer now, stood up and helped the other to do the same. 'It wasn't that he doesn't want to tell, it's because he doesn't know what to tell,' Haku understood and wept softly inside. 'That smile... is so strong even though his heart must be dying. Yet... I can do nothing to help him. Nothing at all...'

"Let's go..." Hitsuka said, picking Naruto and Sasuke up, leaving Haku to carry Sakura.

_Day 4: __At the Tower_

"YAY! We're finally here!" Naruto cheered, holding Sakura's hand and danced happily.

"And with one day to spare, too!" Sasuke added and was pulled into the dance as well.

Hitsuka laughed. "You guys, the test is not finished unless you stepped through that door!" he told them. "And this is where we must part for now."

"All right! See you guys later then!" Breaking the seal on the door, Sakura confidently walked in with the other two boys hastily following her. Naruto threw back a hasty smile before he closed the door.

Entering their own room after Haku had broken the seal on the door; they came face to face with nothing but some writings on the wall. "Well... I suppose we can open them now," Hitsuka suggested, pulling out the original Heaven scroll. Haku nodded and took his own Earth scroll from its hidden place.

On the count of three, they both pulled open the scrolls in their hands. Immediately realizing what they were, both boys threw them on the ground in from of them. With a burst of smoke, an unknown now stood above the two scrolls. "Congratulation on passing, you may have the next day to rest. You're now dismissed," he said quickly, "but Yuki Hitsuka, if you will come with me."

Making a move forward, Hitsuka was surprised when Haku stepped in front of him. "What do you want with him? Can we even trust you?" he asked suspiciously, ignoring the tapping on his shoulder. "Give us some proof of your identity!"

The man actually growled in frustration. "Look, _boy_, I'm in no mood to play along with your little game right now. Move, or I will disqualify you!"

Even more unwilling to, Haku did not expect the sudden blackness that came over his eyes. The last thing he heard before he fainted was a soft mutter of, "I'm sorry," from Hitsuka.

Leaning his friend against a wall, Hitsuka scolded the man, "You didn't need to be so impatient with the whole procedures! Now Haku will be even more suspicious of my condition." He glared over his shoulder. "Jiraiya-sama! Are you even listening to me!?"

Waving aside this one-side conversation, Jiraiya cancelled the genjutsu over himself and grabbed the white-haired boy. "Come on, someone will take care of that boy. We have something more pressing to take care of right now." Without any other explanations, he teleported them into the Hokage's office.

Pushing Hitsuka away from him as soon as they arrived, Jiraiya held a kunai at Tsunade's throat who was doing the same thing to him. "How did I overcome my fear of blood?" Tsunade spoke first, her voice dead.

"Because you had to heal Uzumaki Naruto. Why did I go searching for you?"

"In order to wake Uchiha Fugaku up from Mangekyou Sharingan-induced coma."

Both senins relaxed slightly after this. Hitsuka blinked from his place on the floor, slightly disoriented. "Was all that... really necessary?" he asked, confused.

Hiding the weapon somewhere around her chest area, Tsunade replied, "It's always better to be safe than sorry during uncertain times." She crouched in front of the boy. "Now, strip!"

Hitsuka blushed and turned his face away. "Tsunade-sama... not in front of so many people," he said shyly and quickly backed away so he would not turn into a pancake by the angry woman. "I was just joking! Sheesh..."

"Just get on with it!" The woman took hold of Hitsuka's top and pulled it straight off. It was quite shocking, for the three adults, to see the Curse Seal on someone that they had known and became close to. "I knew it..." Tsunade breathed, her hands balling up.

The Curse Seal on him shaped like three leaves spreading out from a mid-point. It was this tiny thing that had caused many people pain and distress. It was a hateful symbol.

Hitsuka gave an uncomfortable laugh and scratched the back of his head. "How did you know? I've only just got it two days ago," he said.

"We heard the explosion and went to investigate it," Jiraiya explained. "We saw the battle site and it was similar my condition from that time with your bombs so we knew it was you guys."

"After some more examination," Tsunade took over, "we were sure that you had encountered that man... Orochimaru." She slammed her fist into her sensei's desk. "Just to be sure, we scanned each and every one of you as you entered the Tower and you stood out."

Hitsuka pulled on his cloth and tidied himself. "Was it because my chakra was different from before?" he asked, knowing that he was right. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fi-"

Tsunade stopped his word with a finger on his lips. "Don't, please don't force yourself anymore," she pleaded. Shocking everyone in the room, she pulled the boy into a tight hug. "Relax, take off that mask for now. You're in safe hands."

The happy-go-lucky expression on Hitsuka's face melted away and he relaxed into the hold. "Yes... thank you..." Slowly, he broke down bit by bit, grabbing on to Tsunade as he howled and sobbed, not at all embarrassed by his audience.

He _had_ been afraid. He really didn't want to have this thing. He was just not ready yet.

Soon, when he tired himself out from crying and hiccupping, he fell asleep. The adults watched, taking all of these in. The Third placed his frail hand on the white-head and bowed his own. "I'm sorry... please forgive this foolish old man..." A tear fell on to Hitsuka's face, running down his cheek.

"He's still only a child despite the number of years he had lived," Tsunade said softly, drying Hitsuka's face with her top. "He had lived two childhoods so he has never experience what an adult's life is like. Basically, he's only a really mature child."

"He has done so much for us, saving so many people's life," Jiraiya muttered. "Even though they've really got nothing to do with him at all." He squeezed his eyes shut. "Why? Why does he...?"

"Because they are people that are precious to him. The relationship between them is not one that can sever so easily." Tsunade lifted up the sleeping boy with no effort and carried him into the adjoining room through a hidden door. "Let him sleep for now. Jiraiya, you can do the seals later."

Jiraiya closed the door after Tsunade when she came out. "Yeah..."

_Day 5: Final day of the second __test_

He was having the strangest dream ever. He knew that during one's sleep, he or she would have not one, but multiple dreams. But he knew he was only having one dream. It was as if he had gone on one of those time machines from that anime about some robot cat he watched many, many years ago. He was in Wave Country again, standing over Haku's body.

Next he was five and after that, three, meeting the Uchiha and Hyuuga all over again.

And he was home and sixteen again, going back in time and reliving different segments of his past life in junior high school then primary. Something stood out prominently and he found his younger self paused in his memory.

"You think you're so good! With girls flocking around you all the time and all that!" the boy in front of him yelled. "Don't get too cocky, you bastard!"

"I don't understand what it is you want with me," he said quietly, unable to comprehend why the other boy was so angry. They were only five and six; this could not be over that, could it?

"Because of you, Nanako-chan only talks about you all the time!"

So it could.

He shrugged his school pack higher. "I'm sorry, Kenta-kun, but that's really not my fault," he said, walking away.

Trembling with anger, the boy yelled, "I know all about you! You're not your parents' child."

He stopped but refused to listen.

"Everyone in the neighbourhood knows that you just turn up one day! You were probably picked up from a trash can or something like that! You're just a trash! Found by your trashy parents!"

The punch from him was unexpected. "Don't you dare bad mouth my parents," he whispered.

Kenta wiped the blood off from his lips. "So what! They're just trash like you! Everyone says so!"

Everything went white after that.

Hitsuka assumed he had released his chakra, almost killing that boy. It wasn't the best memory to remember but there it was.

Next thing he knew, he was a baby, unable of any communication at all but, for some reason, could still think clearly. 'Otou-sama, Oka-sama... where are you?' He weakly moved his arms. 'It hurts so much, Otou-sama...'

The door crashed open, letting a burst of light into the dark room, bringing a fresh breeze of forest in to replace the smell of dead flesh. "Kits? Where are you, kits!?" the fox screamed out.

'Otou-sama! Otou-sama, I'm here!' he cried, even though he could not work his voice box. 'Save me!'

But, he was left alone again. There was no one.

Hitsuka woke up, blinking the tears away. 'What was... that dream?' he wondered, confused. Looking about him, he didn't know where he was. "Jiraiya-sama..." He shook the sleeping man by his bed, careful to keep his hands away from the puddle of drool. "Jiraiya-sama!"

"Urgh..." Slowly waking up, the man wiped away his drool by his mouth. "Where am I?"

"That's what I would like to know," Hitsuka replied, starting to get annoyed.

Finally coming to his senses, Jiraiya stretched and replied, "We're in the special bedroom that's next to the Hokage's office. You've been sleeping for a whole day now so you should be rested by now." He pointed at the boy's chest. "I've put a seal on you already, so you should be fine for the next part of the test."

Looking at the Curse Seal through the bedside mirror, Hitsuka was unable to recognise the sea around it. "This doesn't seem to be the Fuuja Houin. There's one more ring of seal."

"Of course not, Fuuja Houin won't be enough to seal the Curse Seal away, so I added my own bit on to it." Jiraiya passed a glass of water to Hitsuka. "The time it will take for you to recover will be shorter but you won't be able to use your chakra for some time."

"Is that right... I won't be able to use my chakra for a while..." he repeated, and then paused. "WHAT! I thought you said I'll be fine for the final test!"

Picking his nose now, the man was looking anywhere but the boy. "Yeah, yeah... Anyway, here's a change of clothes for you."

"Don't go around changing the subject!"

_At the fight arena_

'Where is Hitsuka!?'

This was the constant thought on the mind of everyone who knew the boy. Standing in line, neither of the genins listened to the Hokage's speech. It wasn't as if they needed to anyway.

The Third knew, of course, where Hitsuka was but he was getting worried as well. 'What the hell is Jiraiya doing?'

Orochimaru, disguised as a Konoha chuunin, wondered as well. 'I really want to see if I was right...' he thought. 'Until then, I suppose Sasuke-kun could wait for a while.'

A voice rang out from the other side of the room accompanied by one set of heavy footfall, "Why couldn't you at least set an alarm clock!"

"Shut up, brat! I was nice enough to let you sleep in and this is how you repay me?" a deep man's voice replied, thumping down the corridor.

"Well, not if you fell asleep as well, causing me to be late to my test! And why the hell did you get me this set of clothes!"

"There wasn't enough time so I just grabbed whatever I could get my hands on!"

"You, you..." The door slammed open and both Hitsuka and Jiraiya crashed through. "Sorry I'm late!" the white-haired boy apologised profoundly, bowing his upper body multiple times.

"Of course you should be," Jiraiya muttered, leaning against the door frame.

With a glint of his eyes, Hitsuka flicked a pebble at the man's head, causing him to trip over in surprise. "Who's fault will that be! Idiot..."

Naruto squirmed around Sasuke so he could see his adopted brother. "Hitsuka, where have you been, you-" He was startled to silence, then started laughing. "Why- why are you still wearing that? Hitsuka! I thought you said it doesn't suit you anymore."

The white-haired boy blushed deep red and tried to pull the bottom edge of his old kimono down further. His attempt was futile as it didn't even go past his knees. "It's not my fault! That idiotic man," Hitsuka jerked his thumb behind him, "brought this for me to wear."

"Hey, I didn't have to bring anything for you!" Jiraiya argued. "You should be thanking me for not being naked right now."

"If you didn't burn my clothes from yesterday, I won't even be in this situation right now!"

'I swear that man did this purposely. Why else would he have my zori sandals when they weren't even anyway close to the kimono!' he mentally screamed.

The Third coughed and the attention was turned back to him. "Anyway, as I was saying, there will be someone that will now explain to you about the third test."

A person teleported in right at this moment and bowed his head. "Thank you, Hokage-sama," he said, coughing lightly.

"Who's this sickly man...?" Sakura wondered out loud, noting the hunched shoulders and the dark rings under the man's eyes.

"Hello, everyone. My name is Gekkou Hayate," he introduced himself, coughing all the time. "Umm... before the third test start, there's a preliminary that decides who get to participate in the main event."

A murmur of questions and complains rose at this. "We're doing this because we have too many people left from the second test which was probably too easy," Hayate called out over the noise and waited until everyone settle down. "According to chuunin exam rules, we must have a preliminary to reduce the number of participants for the third test."

Anko frowned slightly. 'It's true that I was surprised that there were twenty people left from my part but the batch from this year really is quite strong. It's not my fault!' she fumed.

"So, umm... if anyone wants to quit right now after this explanation, please step forward as we will be starting the preliminary immediately."

No one stepped out and Hitsuka was slightly confused. 'Where's Kabuto? I know we haven't met him during the last test but his strength he should be here,' he wondered. 'Unless his team has lost their scroll?'

Not far from truth, Kabuto's team had indeed lost their scroll to a stronger opponent. It happened while Kabuto left to look for Sasuke so he could inform Orochimaru the whereabouts of the boy. With him gone, the two guys were unable to protect the scroll from the lone Konoha genin that came out of nowhere who just happened to be Haku. The team was then unable to gather two more scrolls so they were disqualified.

What a pity, not.

So, with no one volunteering themselves, Hayate lowered his clipboard and nodded. "Very well, um... let's begin the preliminary. This preliminary will consist of one on one fighting. You will basically fight as if in a real life confrontation," he explained. "Since we have exactly twenty people, we will have ten matches, umm... the winners will advance to the third test."

"YEAH!" Naruto suddenly cheered. "I'm so gonna do this!"

"Shut up, Naruto, and listen to the instructions!" Sakura hissed.

"But, Sakura-chan..."

"Just shut up."

Hayate sweat-dropped. "Umm... well, there's basically no rule but I will stop the fight when things get too ugly. There's no need to increase anymore corpses." He glanced at the genins and allowed a small smile. "Well, umm... let the third test begin!"

* * *

(1) These excuses are all true! I got them out from 'Naruto Hiden Hyou-No Sho Official Fan Book' page 24, so disclaimer to that. 

(2) Sound-nins

(3) Prankster Trio

(4) Hidden Village of the Rain

(5) Leaf, Sand, Rain, Grass, Waterfall and Sound, just in case you don't know.

(6) A Genjutsu that puts people to sleep.

Thank you to those who have supported me and to those who continuously asking me to update even though it has been more than a year. I'll promise I'll try to update as soon as possible, I have everything for the next chapter planned out already!

But, I'll apologise right now. I will be busy as I am a university student with assessments piling on me already. Please consider the length of each chapter, too. I try not to leave any chapter at a cliff hanger so often each one of them will be quite long and does take awhile to type.

That's all of my rambling for now. Thanks again (to those who actually read author's notes, I know I don't).


	21. Chapter 21

I really hate myself…

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

* * *

Chapter twenty-one

"The object that will control your destiny is," Hayate continued and Anko took this as the cue to give out the command for the curtain to be opened. A screened was revealed and the referee pointed towards it. "This electronic board, it will show the match-up for each battle." He coughed. "I know this is sudden but I will announce the two names for the first battle."

Everyone looked up and held their breaths in anticipation. It was taking so long that Naruto thought he was going to pass out from the lack of oxygen to his brain. Finally the screen blinked.

**Hyuuga Neji vs. Tenten**

A collective gasp rose, surprised that the very first battle was going to be between team mates and friends. Some thought it was cruel, believing that neither genin would fight to their fullest in fear of hurting each other.

Unfortunately, they were wrong.

Standing in the arena, the two Konoha ninjas waited to start. "Tenten, who would've thought," Neji muttered, a grin playing on his face. "Prepare to beg for mercy!"

The girl already had weapons in her hands. "I'm so gonna whip your arse!" Tenten smirked, answering the challenge.

'Get a room, you SM couple,' Hayate thought, his inner-self contrasting greatly with his sickly outward appearance. "Start!" he said weakly, backing away.

Having already forgotten about the referee, the two genin attacked each other without hesitation. Weapons ranging from shurinken to sickle to battle axe rained down upon the boy as Tenten unwound her summoning scroll.

Neji grinned and mouthed, "Kaiten…" and twisted his body. The soft glow of blue chakra engulfed him as a perfect dome deflected all the weapons, littering them around his feet. The watching audience, except those who knew his ability, gasped.

"So young!" they exclaimed. "Main house's technique too!"

"Tenten is in such a disadvantage," Naruto observed, knowing full well what his Hyuuga friend was capable of. "She's not going to win."

Overhearing this, Lee came to his team mate's defence. "That may not be the case," he said and elaborated when he received some confused faces, "Tenten-san was the one that had helped Neji perfected his Kaiten, so she probably knows as much about it as Neji-kun does. Also, in terms of body strength, I believe she may surprise you."

As if she heard him, the girl easily lifted up a large battle axe and swept it at Neji one-handed. When that was easily evaded – despite the speed and power of the swing that could effortlessly split a boulder in half – she breathed out deeply in a sigh. 'I knew this wasn't going to be easy,' she thought but was excited by it. She showed it but flipping the axe so that she was holding it by the deadly blade-end, and sent it spinning across the space between them. She quickly followed this attack with a couple more weapons that spread out in all directions.

Neji, knowing the usual fighting style of his team mate, merely dodged all the projectiles near him with minimal movements. He shook his head when Tenten proceeded to fling more weapons at him and this process repeated a couple more times, each ended with the boy unharmed and the girl puffing. When Neji was just about to yell out that this was getting repetitive, he chocked slightly when he saw the slight curve on Tenten's lips. He relaxed a little when all she did was summoning more weapons.

He should have never underestimated his team mate. As he was busy warding off the attacks, he failed to notice what the girl was up to until it was too late. 'Since when did Tenten learnt how to punch like that?' he wondered at the back of his mind as he knees buckled underneath him when he lost his balance on the crumbling floor.

Tenten, shadowing her own weapons, managed to sneak into Neji's personal space via underground tunnels. Her surprise attack and the fact that she had smashed her way up to Neji gave her the chance to give one hell of a punch.

She instantly followed up with another attack. But, despite her best effort, she was still no match for the fast recovered taijutsu specialist. As Neji offered a hand to help her up, she smiled and gracefully accepted it. "I will beat you one day," she promised.

Neji inclined his head slightly, a grin playing on his lips. "I shall wait," he said simply and ducked as his team mate still had the energy to shoot a kick at his face.

"Well, with that done, let's have a look at who's up next," Hayate said quietly and the screened flashed as if on cue.

**Aburame Shino vs. Uchiha Sasuke**

Several audiences gasped. "The Uchiha," they whispered, "the Uchiha!"

"One would think you're some kind of God," Naruto joked, elbowing the brunet in the side. "Ooh, the Uchiha-sama! Save me, Uchiha-sama! Save me!"

"Drop dead," Sasuke muttered, levelling a kunai in the boy's face.

Hayate looked up and called out, "You're fight is down here, Uchiha."

While Sasuke reluctantly left the perfect excuse to pummel his friend, Naruto snickered loudly until Sakura punched him in the face. That was how the blond managed to miss out the epic fight that brought the two great clans to work together in the near future.

'Aburame Shino…' Sasuke wondered slightly, lowering his body slightly to provide himself with a greater stability. 'I don't know much about him but his clan…' He couldn't stop it, it was rude but, but…

He shuddered. A blush instantly lit up his cheeks and with his pale complexity, it was easily seen. 'How dared I! He's part of an honourable clan whom I should be proud to have the chance to have a spar with! But…'

Unknown to anyone, not even his parents, the perfect, poster child Uchiha Sasuke actually had a small phobia of swarms of bugs. They were just… urgh! They crawled up your arms, got into places where they shouldn't be, bursting your ear drums as they scurried around in your ears on their little feet.

Gah!

A couple of straggly ones are okay, but not swarms. Yup, definitely not swarms.

No one actually noticed the blush, a fact that Sasuke was thankful of. Even the guy standing right in front of him did not see it. But Shino was wearing sunglasses so he could be forgiven.

"Uchiha Sasuke…" Shino suddenly said and the said boy tensed slightly, waiting. Several minutes went past and there was still no continuation of that sentence. Shino shifted and everyone held their breaths in anticipation. When the bug boy breathed out, he was slightly puzzled by the fact that the audience and his opponent faltered or fainted.

But, the fight started without any other hitches. The two fighters traded blows, each gauging others' abilities and strength but knowing it was useless as no one went fully ahead from the start. Just when Sasuke was going to slam a kunai into an opening on his opponent's back, the boy that was making his goose bumps simply dissolved into, goodness forbid it, a cloud of bugs.

With his Sharingan activated, he could tell where they would attack next and he was able to escape easily. His phobia had also helped him to move at a higher speed than normal which was a bonus. But that had also meant he had lost sight of Shino.

He had remembered, at the wrong place and the wrong time, that he could not predict the movements of those he could not see. He cursed himself for not realizing earlier as he spat out the blood that had pooled in his mouth from the force of the punch. "Not bad," he said and he had meant it.

Shino nodded slightly in appreciation of the praise. The silent boy flexed his hand in his pocket and was not surprise to feel blood trickling from his split knuckles. 'What the heck is that guy's head made out of?' he wondered slightly and decided that perhaps close contact was not a good idea.

Well, that was perhaps the biggest mistake he made during the whole exam. If he had known that Sasuke had entomophobia, he would have probably sent in a couple of his special bunshin and basically smother the other completely with bugs. Sucking and draining him of his chakra would be an added plus.

While tactical retreat (also known as running away) was not what Sasuke would usually do, he honestly had no say in the matter this time. He could not believe that he was using one of the jutsu that Kakashi had shown on their second day they became genin – hiding underground. It was not a real comfortable place to be in, dark and damp in this humidly hot day. And the occasion encounters with concrete blocks was not pleasant either.

Just as he was planning as to what he's next step would be, something flew by his face in the limited space he had created. Heart pumping, hands clammy and eyes wide, his Sharingan zoomed and focused upon the intruders.

Bugs, dun, dun, dun…

Diaphragm contracting, a rush of air flashed up the air way and transformed into a high-pitched scream as it passed the voice box. It was readied, a mature, girly scream that would obviously show the displeasure of it master. Pushing and shoving aside the block that was the tongue, it screeched in triumph as it reached its ultimate goal. Only to be chopped and grinded to dusts by slabs of calcium.

Obviously, the Uchiha was too prideful to scream. Definitely not girly scream either.

As he was found already – a thing that he had noticed with Shino was that the guy literally didn't have a blind spot – he reached up and grabbed the ankles that were above him. He wasn't expecting much so he was not surprised when this attack was easily evaded.

'This is too easy,' Shino thought and mind-mumbled for a bit. He could tell that his opponent had rarely fought with someone his eyes could not catch and with something so small and in mass. He soon had Sasuke cornered with his army of chakra-sucking insects. "This is the end," he said quietly and let loose his command. Through the flurry of movements and wings, he did not fail to see the little grin.

Hands flew into fluent hand seals, Sasuke blew a giant fire ball at the previously unnoticed black powder on the ground. A wall of flame instantly surrounded Sasuke and flared outwards, slamming into the tiny weapons of destruction. Due to the lack of rough fighting from the two opponents and that the bugs hovered way off the floor, the black explosive powders had managed to remain undisturbed.

With a large amount of his armies gone in such a surprising manner, Shino was temporary rocked into an unstable mind state. Sasuke easily used this chance and held a kunai to his throat. "… Why aren't you burnt?" Shino asked, noting the only slight singe of hair and clothes. Once again, Hayate's voice was forgotten.

Sasuke snorted lightly as if it was a stupid question to ask. "The Uchiha clan is famous for its fire jutsu, of course I am not burnt," he replied. With a grin, he released the fallen genin and held out a hand. "It was a good fight, either one of us could have come out as the winner."

Shino nodded and accepted the gesture of friendship. "We have what the other lack… mumble, mumble… We will be able to work well in the future…" he said softly and Sasuke agreed. The two Head-of-Clan-to-be smiled and shook hands until Shino accidently slipped and pulled the other down.

"Urgh… What happened…" Naruto groaned, sitting up. His eyes widened and jumped onto the hand rail. "What are you two doing! On the holy grounds of the arena too!" he yelled, bringing a blush to everyone that had any kind of association with the blond. The rest was left laughing silently.

Sasuke would never give up the chance to beat up his friend into a bloody mess.

"Moving on!" Hayate said and coughed into his hand lightly. "Well…" The screen flashed without warning. "Hey!"

**Haku vs. Abumi Zaku**

Haku stared at the name next to his and, without another word, looked at his partner. Hitsuka nodded his head after a couple of seconds of silence and held his hand up. The brunet smiled and high-fived with the boy.

"What's taking you so long, pretty boy!?" Zaku yelled, stomping his foot impatiently. "Just say your last goodbyes to your boyfriend and get your sorry ass down here!" Haku coldly glanced down but walked into the arena never less.

Once the two stood face to face on the same ground, they waited for the referee to call for the start of the fight. Hayate glanced up from his dejected state and muttered, "Start…" before turning to face the wall and drew circles on the ground.

"Unlike Dosu, I don't have a weakness in my jutsu!" Zaku yelled arrogantly, but was still sore from his earlier defeat.

Haku made no reply, the anger from before still simmered underneath. Instead, he quietly and quickly froze the limbs of his opponent with his ice, effectively blocking the air holes of Zaku's weapon. It was such a cold and heartless move that most people were shocked. Hitsuka was able to remember in time that despite what Haku was now, he was an ex-Hunter-nin, a level way above a cocky genin.

"Forfeit," the boy said simply, allowing this small act of mercy.

"Never!" Zaku spat, desperately trying to force his jutsu out. Feeling the pressure building up in his arms, he quickly dispersed the chakra. If he didn't, his arms would definitely be blown off.

Actually happy with this response, Haku calmly walked up to his trapped victim and stuck a senbon into the base of Zaku's neck. It was new experience for the Oto-nin, losing all feelings from the neck down and he could no longer feel the stung from the ice. Being an expert at what he was doing before in his own village, of course the older brunet knew all about the pressure points in the human body. One of which was for paralyzing body parts while causing no pain.

Haku whispered softly into the Oto-nin's ear, not allowing anyone to hear what he had to say. "You know... I can cut your arms off and you won't feel a thing, unless…" he touched the senbon gently, "I pull this out."

Zaku shook his head slowly, the only movement he could manage. He was already freaked out from not able to feel anything, and now this!? "I give up! I give up!" he almost sobbed, squeezing his eyes shut in embarrassment. Walking away disappointed, Haku didn't even bothered releasing his jutsu, leaving the medic-nin to take care of the rest. By the time Hayate finished announcing the winner, the said boy was already back up stairs and by his friends.

"Thank you…"

The brunet turned around in surprise, but Hitsuka was already gone as he was up next.

**Rock Lee vs. Yuki Hitsuka**

Hitsuka calmly strode to the middle of the arena where his eager opponent was already waiting. Giving the boy a grin before he tilted his face towards the No. 1 man on his to kill list. Jiraiya gulped despite all the battles and experiences he had been through. The white-haired boy's eyes glinted eerily, relaying a message: "You. Are. So. Dead." Jiraiya quickly broke the eye contact which left Tsunade snorting and Sandaime chuckling.

Turning his head back towards his opponent, he sighed and thought maybe he should really start praying or, better yet, cursing his bad luck. After all, he was facing the young and bright taijutsu specialist named Rock Lee. He could not afford to underestimate his opponent, especially since he could not manipulate any of his chakra.

'Kind of like when Neji-nii-san sealed all my chakra points…'

"Go! Go! Hi-Tsu-Ka! Go! FIGHT-OH!" someone cheered loudly, accompanied by two pairs of eye-blinding pink pompoms. It was, unsurprisingly, Naruto and, shockingly, Gaara.

Hitsuka wasn't sure whether he should laugh or fix his dislocated jaw first. One thing that was for sure was that this image was burnt into his mind and that he cursed himself for not having his camera at that moment. Even Lee looked like he was blinded by the pinkness when he himself wore orange legwarmers.

"Lee-san," Hitsuka said, just before the referee started the fight, "let's have a satisfying fight."

Lee, now with a wider grin on his face, replied enthusiastically, "Yes!"

Hayate looked at the two, then nodded his head. "Begin!"

The taijutsu specialist immediately flew at the other boy, testing him with a series of simple punches and kicks. Blocking them all with ease, Hitsuka returned the attacks with the same intention, knowing that Lee wasn't giving everything.

With one last final crash, both boys landed out of each other's attacking range. Lee felt a shimmer of excitement running down his spine. Admittedly, he had been hoping to fight the genius Uchiha Sasuke, But this boy, he had blocked all of his initial attacks, which weren't to the best of his abilities but could still do some damage.

'His style is… weird,' he thought, somewhat embarrassed for using such impolite term for describing someone's taijutsu. But he was right. The young taijutsu specialist had fought with many opponents, friendly or not, and was constantly learning. And he always categorised their techniques into one of the two groups – hard or soft.

No doubt, Gai and his were under that 'hard' category, relying mainly on speed and brute strength. Taijutsu like that of the Hyuuga family was 'soft', flowing along the outlines of the enemy and aimed for the weak spots, using minimum energy.

Hitsuka-kun's was, well, weird – hard, yet soft at the same time. One moment the boy would punch straight and true, his sleeve cracking loudly through the air. Then, when his attack missed as Lee dodged, it would simply _melt_, changing its course and somehow, almost doing the impossibility, it managed to found its ultimate target somewhere on his body. It alternated between hard and soft with no fixed rhythm.

It was both exciting and annoying at the same time, and he was unable to get used to it… yet.

"Lee! Take them off!" Gai yelled, excited as well.

"But Gai-sensei! I thought you said-"

"Don't worry about what I said! You've got a formidable opponent so you should not disrespect him with half-hearted attacks!"

"Yes, sensei!"

Still keeping his eyes on the other, Lee crouched down and pulled down his legwarmers. "Hitsuka-kun," he pulled off the weights, "I will be serious from now on!" he warned. Standing straight up, he dropped the items in his hands. With two crashes, one after another, the fighting arena now had two new craters needed to be repaired. Hokage let out a resigned sigh.

Gai looked proudly at his student and glanced at Kakashi as if challenging him to some sort of contest. Kakashi rolled his eyes heavenward and called out lazily, "You should do it too, Hitsuka."

The white-haired boy nodded his head. "Yes, it'll be rude of me not to go all out either," he answered and slid his feet out from his zori sandals, placing them off to one side as he did not believe in unnecessary damages thus hiding the extent of their weight. He felt a sudden surge of mellow sadness when his hand, so used to the routine, touched his chest and found the spot empty. 'I still can't believe Sandaime-sama and the two idiotic senin burnt my training vest… That took me ages to make…'

A training vest – or any sort of clothing – was one that could change its weight according to the amount of chakra its user inserted into it. It had to be made purely by the user himself/herself as this kind of weight would need to be in synch with only user's chakra. Any contamination during the process of making would taint the materials and would need to start again, which was the main reason why not many people used this as it required a lot of patience. But another plus – besides not needing to buy new set of weights every time they were required – was that with a simple cancelling jutsu, the flow of chakra could be cut and the training weights would turned into normal clothing. One can also use it for chakra control exercise if so wished.

'It's gonna take me months to make another one,' Hitsuka moaned to himself and moped slightly. It was then that some kind of instinct told him to duck and, what the heck, who was he to disagree?

It was lucky he did.

Not deterred by the miss of his kick, Lee quickly followed that with more punches and kicks. If he thought Hitsuka was good before, now he was thoroughly impressed. As each attack met only air, the brunet got even more excited.

Sadly, the same thing could not be said for Hitsuka. He had to give everything in order not to get hit and if hadn't done so much training on just the basics, he would've been smashed and embedded in a wall by now. Or the floor.

"Go Lee! Go Hitsuka-kun!" Tenten cheered loudly. "Beat him to a pulp!"

No one was sure who she was telling that to.

"Umm… Tenten, not being mean or anything, but why are you supporting Hitsuka?" Neji asked the question that was on everybody's mind.

Tenten looked surprised. "Of course I should! Hitsuka-kun is one of the most loyal customers of my family's weapon store!" she said, her tone suggested that everyone present were rather slow.

"Eh!? I never knew that!" Naruto exclaimed, earning himself some weird looks. "What? Hitsuka always gets my weapons for me."

"Then…" Tenten stole a shuriken from Naruto with such speed that now came as no surprise when everyone had seen her fought. She flipped it and pointed at a small circle engraved near the centre. "That's my family's crest."

"Wow! I've never noticed that," the blond boy said with wonders in his eyes. He took another one out to examine it.

"Yeah, I can tell 'cause you don't really take care of your weapon's." Tenten wrinkled her nose at the blunt edges and chucked the small weapon back at its owner. "How can you two be so different? Some of Hitsuka-kun's kunai and shuriken are one fifth of their original size because of all the sharpening he did."

Naruto blushed heavily and vowed that, as soon as this preliminary had finished, he would sit down and sharpen all of his weapons. The rest of the genin took this as a warning and made the same decision as well.

Oblivious to what was happening upstairs, Hitsuka gradually found himself catching up with Lee. But never less, he felt a bit let down by himself as he had known for some time about his weakness in taijutsu but never try to do much about it.

'And now I can rely on my crappy taijutsu because I can't use my chakra,' he though with annoyance. 'I suppose I've got my bombs and other stuff, but I don't think they'll be fast enough to catch Lee-san.' Seeing through the feint, he managed to block both Lee's punch and kick and returned the favour. 'And, damn, that guy can pack one mean punch!'

Suddenly losing his balance when he slid on one particular smooth tile, causing him to leave an opening for his opponent to slip a couple punches to his upper torso. He spat out the blood in his mouth and wiped the cut that was on his cheek. 'It can't be helped; I'll have to use that even though it is still in experimental stage.' He leapt back and pulled out a summoning scroll. 'Too bad, have to give it try… Otherwise I am a dead man.'

'What is he going to summon?' Lee speculated, jumping back as well to put some distance between them, playing things safe.

'I sure hope as hell this will work…' Hitsuka rolled the scroll up with a snap of his wrist, a long black pole in his other hand. At the back of his mind, he reminded himself to draw up another summoning scroll once he had the time – having had used his blood instead of chakra thus making the thing useless now.

Grabbing the pole with both hands, he forced his body to loosen up and took a relaxed stance. Then, he blanked his mind.

'I wonder why Hitsuka-kun isn't using any ninjutsu?' the brunet wondered. 'Is he going easy on me just because I can't use jutsu!?'

"I am not going easy on you, Lee-san," Hitsuka said softly, seeing the distaste on the boy's face. "I just can't use my chakra for now but that doesn't mean I won't fight my best!"

Lee, finally understood the situation, smiled. "In that case…" He moved with every intention of over-whelming the other with his speed and power. A black circle suddenly appeared and sailed towards his face, causing him to crisscross his eyes. "What the-!" He jerked and arched his back but still caught a glancing blow to his head that seemed to pack far more power than a simple jab.

Expecting his attack to go wasted, Hitsuka followed up his attack with a kick. He never really did expect the kick to land, though. The whole male population in the building winced as Lee quietly sobbed into the cool tiled floor and willed his precious to piece back together.

"I am so, so sorry," a white-faced Hitsuka whispered, knowing he had put full force behind his kick.

Lee wobbly stood up, ignoring the calls of concern from his teacher. "So you are serious," he choked out and forced himself into his starting position.

Unable to bring himself to look at the tear-stained face, Hitsuka swung his weapon while twisting it at high speed, using his wrist as the pivot point. Lee, of course, easily dodged it, but soon cringed because of the intense pain from the southern region. With the built up of momentum behind his swing, the white-haired boy took this chance and cracked the pole on Lee's head.

Lee jerked his head to one side to avoid getting it split open. But his left shoulder was not so lucky. It was purely coincidental that the angle and force of the hit was enough to cause his left arm to pop right out of its socket. Neither boy had planned for this to happen, and while it was painful as hell it was not enough for him to give up.

"What's up with Hitsuka today?" Naruto asked, his voice trembling slightly. "He's hurting his opponent more than usual!"

Noting the shocked look on the white-haired boy, Kakashi shook his head. "I don't think he's doing it purposely…"

"That just made this situation even scarier," Sasuke muttered. No one tried to deny it.

Hitsuka was, though he loathed to admit it, almost in tears. 'This is why this thing is not ready yet,' he thought in panic. 'I don't have absolute control over it when I attack! I knew it! I knew I shouldn't use this weapon just yet!'

He eep-ed when the air around his opponent changed dramatically. "Umm… Lee-san?" he tried and shrank back when the floor around Lee cracked under a bust of chakra. 'Holy! Crap!' At the back of his mind he thought he could hear Kakashi-sensei yelling something at Gai but he was not so sure as most of his attention remained transfixed on the crazy looking boy in front of him. He did, however, managed to stick a particular finger in the general direction of the thick-eyebrows teacher.

Taken back by this, Gai turned to look at Kakashi for an explanation. The scarecrow scratched his nose and assumed out loud, "I guess he knows about the Hachimon and who was one that taught it. Without his chakra, Hitsuka really hates your guts right now, Gai." (1)

"Five bloody gates," he muttered, his hands working on his pole. "Five bloody gates!!!" he cried, almost hysterical.

Sasuke looked at Naruto. "How the heck did he knew that when we only just heard about it?" he asked. The blond boy merely shrugged, not so surprised anymore.

'This is gonna hurt,' the white-haired boy thought with real tears in his eyes. He pushed one end of the pole into the ground with one hand and the black stick seemed to split into numerous thinner ones from the core. He quickly clambered inside while Lee was still taking his time opening the gates – which was not all that comforting as that meant more damages could be done.

'I know I have probably said this a thousand times today already but– I seriously hope this is gonna work!' he prayed before slamming his bloody palm on the previously written seals on the insides of the sphere created by the remains of his pole.

He could not manipulate any of his chakra as if his chakra holes were all sealed. But they were not, only the effect was similar. He wasn't sure about all the details but he had hoped that, while he could not release any chakra, something could perhaps suck it out.

With a small "whoosh" a layer of blue screen covered the entire skeleton of sphere and he breathed a small sign of relief. 'I am so unbelievably glad I had decided to put this in,' he thought before his world was turned upside-down.

Ever tried to imagine what the tiny ball in the pinball game felts like as it was slammed from behind and went whizzing though the maze of pins? Well, that would be exactly what Hitsuka felt like with Lee being the pins.

'Still one advantage though…' Hitsuka managed to think through the scrambling of his brain. 'Lee still has one busted arm.' When something tugged his little ball of protection in the opposite direction of its original path, he knew instantly what was coming. "Oh what the hell…" he muttered before a hand and foot crashed right through his last line of defence and into him.

Everyone nervously tried to peer into the screen of smoke, each hoping to see the person in their mind to stand victorious. Slowly, it cleared enough to see, revealing Lee half crouching, half lying on the ground. And Hitsuka… He was embedded in the far wall where his crumbled bottom half of his shield had bounce him to, his previous fears becoming true.

Lee wearily clambered to his feet, feeling the pain of his destroyed muscles and wondered if he had won. Hayate was unsure as well; uncertain if Hitsuka had fainted as his face was the side that was buried. With a quiet, soft gasp from the watching crowd, the white-haired boy slowly peeled himself off the wall, one limb at a time.

Lee's team mates, while still supporting Hitsuka, nervously looked at taijutsu specialist, wondering why he was not taking the advantage. It soon became clear that Lee, in fact, could not really move at all. With one last pull, Hitsuka was free and landed uneasily. Glancing around before walking towards the other boy who was beginning to have a hard time just standing up.

'Two… No, three broken ribs, bruised internal organs and one cracked scapula,' he analysed, investigating with his finger tips. Such non-emotional analysis was just a way to take his mind of the pain that each movement he made, each breath he took was creating almost unbearable agony.

The two boys now stood face to face, neither in better shape than the other. Weakly bringing his okay arm up, Lee rose proudly into his stance. Hitsuka stood loosely, his mind working hard. He knew, if nothing happened soon, Hayate may just announce this fight a draw which would be devastating news to both fighters. Biting his lips to hold back the pain that he knew was coming, he disappeared from Lee's view.

Sudden panic seized the brunet but his eyes soon caught a glimpse of his opponent and he swung his arm to block the fist that was coming. Yet when his fist met nothing but space, he knew it was over. A line of coolness felt by the skin on his neck only served to prove his point. "I forfeit," he said loudly but with a smile on his face. It was a good fight and he did not regret his decision.

"Winner! Yuki Hitsuka!"

Sinking down to sit on the floor, the two boys grinned at each other. "Congratulations, Hitsuka-kun," Lee said sincerely, reaching out with his left hand to shake.

"Thank you." Hitsuka shook the offered hand and then grabbed the other one. "Allow me," he said before he popped the busted arm back in, causing only minor pain.

Flexing his arm and moved it around in circles. "That's great! Thanks!" he said and was bodily lifted up by an older and bigger version of himself.

"Lee! Great fight! You fought great!" Gai exclaimed, swinging the boy around. "Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!!!"

Hitsuka buried his face in his hands. 'Just when I thought I was bonding well with Lee-san…'

"Don't come near me, Kakashi-sensei," he said with a warning tone in his voice.

Kakashi shrank back slightly, arms dropping limply to his side, his thoughts of a prank foiled. He settled with a hand on the short boy's shoulder. You did well," he praised.

Soon the medic-nin came to cart the injured away, saving the white-haired boy from the madness that was around him. "Will I be able to stay to watch the rest of the fight?" he enquired politely as Lee was quickly taken away with Gai's cries of concerns drowning out his protest.

The woman that was tending him gave him a stern gaze. "We will see," she said sternly. Stuffing the struggling boy on to a stretcher, she continued, "You are now under my care. You do what I say. You understand?"

"But I am fine!" Hitsuka argued, resisting her and succeeding in rolling over the soft canvas. His face scrunched momentarily when he landed on his feet but quickly cleared, still hopeful.

"You just fought with someone who can open the five gates without using any chakra, of course you are not fine!" the medic-nin snapped but was not annoyed. After all, she was a pro and used to it.

"But… the fight?" the small boy tried, his eyes twinkling with pleading tears. It almost worked; he could see the woman mentally staggered and just one more push he would win. That was, until a large hand clapped down on his head.

"Please just do some quick, emergency healing on him then I will take care of the rest," Kakashi said, his eye smiling. Hitsuka swore lightly as he could tell from the love hearts that were the medic-nin's eyes, he had lost. The one-eyed man looked down at his trapped student. "I have so much I need to ask you," he warned though his tone was light.

Hitsuka slumped, his shoulders dropping. "Yes, sir…"

Naruto watched sadly as his brother was marched away. "Don't worry, I'm sure he will be back in time for your fight," Haku promised, reading the boy easily and slung his arm across the sad boy's shoulder.

"Yeah! Or I can go and drag him back too!" Sasuke encouraged, mirroring the snow boy's action on the other side.

"You guys…"

Sakura wasn't sure if she should be all warm and fuzzy by the boys' lovely friendship or be sick by the figurative sweetness. With a shake of her head, she decided that there was a very fine line between the two.

Since the next fight was between Shikamaru and Kin – boring, really – the storyline decided that it would be the best to follow the interaction between Kakashi and Hitsuka. So, moving itself quickly out of the gates that the others had gone through, it first noticed that the responsible medic-nin had already done her job and parted with the wanted duo. Realizing that, it turned down another corridor and soon stumbled upon them, hidden behind a pillar. It would've screamed if it had a mouth after what it had witnessed. Instead, it just had to be content with peeping.

'Can't people just ask me nicely to show them the Curse?' Hitsuka thought in annoyance, having had the front of his kimono pulled open and his sensei ogling at his chest. 'Okay… that 'ogling' part came out wrong…'

"So… What do we have here?" Kakashi asked, his eye lacking any of its usual laziness.

"Umm… You being a paedophile?" Glare. "Okay, okay! Sheesh… Well… there was a snake… He bit me…" he finally admitted, grudgingly.

Kakashi lightly traced the double rings of the Seal, recognising the lingering chakra. "Jiraiya-sama did this…" he said, not really surprised. "Why wasn't I told about this?"

Hitsuka took his time as he shook his crumpled cloth out, straightening and rearranging it. "Well… As you may have noticed, I was out for the last two days," he eventually muttered out, averting his eyes away. He wasn't readied to tell the man the truth yet – not sure if he ever would be. "So, really, I couldn't tell you anything…"

The silver-haired man gave the boy in front of him a long, hard look. "Hitsuka, why was I not informed of your situation. I am still your teacher," he finally said, carefully keeping his disappointment out of his voice.

"Don't blame him, Kakashi. We told him not to," a new voice said, saving the fidgeting child.

"Jiraiya-sama! Tsunade-sama!" the man said, surprised. "What are you doing here!? What about-"

Tsunade raised a hand to silence him. "Don't worry; we've left our Bunshin behind. If anything happens, we will be there in no time," she explained, tugging her young friend away from Kakashi. "We believed this conversation is more important."

"Yes, Kakashi…" Jiraiya made sure he had the other man's eyes on him and off Hitsuka before he continued, "You do not need to know."

Kakashi took a sharp breath. 'This is a need-to-know case!?' he thought, slightly angry as he was obviously not trusted enough by those he admired. He had been extremely worried when his team and Haku came to him with news of Hitsuka missing. After he had heard about what had happened in the Forbidden Forest, he immediately understood what was going on with the white-haired boy, having had some contact with the Curse Seal in the past.

The fact that the Sandaime and the two senin had refused to seen him only confirmed his suspicions.

"Come on Hitsuka, let's get Tsunade-hime have a look at you first – I am sure you would want see the fights," Jiraiya said, steering the boy towards the woman.

Hitsuka turned to look at his sensei who seemed so tired. "Kakashi-sensei…" he started softly and paused, so many things he wanted to say were on the tip of his tongue but he was too afraid to come clean. Opening and closing his mouth, an "I am sorry…" was all that he could manage in the end and he knew how pathetic it sounded.

Kakashi gave the boy a stiff nod, understanding that it was not his fault – though his mind nagged at him, telling him that it indeed was the boy's fault. He quickly abandoned that thought, not wanting to blame his student anything. His eye softened when Hitsuka gave him a small, relieved smile, which prompted him to wave along with his usual one-eyed smile.

Well, he had come to look for answers. Instead he was left with more questions that even his curiosity could not handle. He really needed to look for something to destroy – preferably with his Raikiri.

Letting out a pent up breathe, he decided to follow the others, dragging his feet dejectedly as he went.

Hitsuka returned just in time to cheer for the victory of Hinata who had won against Kankurou. He was slightly surprised when he had heard the news from the excited team mates of the girl, and immediately felt guilty for the feeling.

The story of the fight was quickly told, though the urgency was not really required. Apparently, while Kankurou did not underestimate his opponent, the natures of their jutsu were so polar that the Hyuuga heiress had an extreme advantage.

With her eyes, she was able to tell immediately the trap the other had set for her and had gone straight to the mummy. Sensing hostility, Kankurou tore out of the bandages. However, his speed in doing so did not help him this time.

Whenever the male fighter threw out chakra strings to attach to his Karasu, Hinata was able to cut right through them with her control over her own chakra.

As a Hyuuga, this type of chakra manipulation was easy.

And that was not the only thing she was capable of. Easily swinging into Kankurou's personal space, she gently placed her palm on his chest. The poor boy didn't even have the time to blush before his world was upside down and of pain.

"Ouch…" Naruto summarized and Hitsuka understood perfectly, having been on the receiving end multiple times.

While Hinata fretted over her opponent about the damages she had done, the love-struck face that was Kankurou's told another story and it was not about pain. Neji frowned and, appearing by the young heiress, he steered her away while whispering words of praise and reassurance. The cheer from the crowd had successfully drowned out any whimpering protest from the injured Suna genin as he was taken away by the medic-nin.

Hitsuka just thought it was funny.

By the way, Shikamaru came out as the victor in his fight with Kin.

Once the stage was cleared, Hayate turned back to his adoring crowd and coughed yet again. "Now coming up," he said dramatically, hands swishing towards the board for the moment of truth.

Blank…

Hayate glared at the machine that dared to defy him. "I said, coming up…!" he repeated, emphasising his first two words.

It remained stubbornly defiant.

The jounin nudged the sleeping Anko. "Anko-san," he whispered, trying to remain inconspicuous but was failing. Now everyone knew that the woman had been controlling the board and that she had been doing a lousy job of it. With a startled jolt, Anko quickly whispered into the headphone while trying to suck in the drool on her lips.

The guy on the receiving end of that message swore she said something highly inappropriate for the current situation.

**Inuzuka Kiba vs. Temari**

"Oh man, I don't wanna fight a girl!" Kiba immediately whined and Akamaru keened at his master's tone. "I rather fight the dead-last Naruto!"

"Hey! Watch who you are calling dead-last!" the said boy yelled, his annoyance obvious. The boy in the arena poked his tongue out in a childish response.

Temari sighed. "Sexist," she muttered quietly which, to the dog-boy's enhanced hearing, sounded like she had said it into his ear.

He suddenly shuddered as if in extreme fear. "I am anything but," he mumbled.

Kankurou, who had wrestled his way back into the audience area and was sitting suspiciously closed to one female Hyuuga, understood instantly. "Brother!" he cried out, tears flowing as he had found a comrade that shared one pain – older female family members.

The two boys seemed to be conversing with a series of hand gestures and grunts that were learnt upon entering the Abused-by-Female-Family-Members Club. This ensured sharing private messages in open without the fear of being killed by the female population.

"How come you don't understand?" Sasuke asked a red-faced Gaara.

"I am the baby of the family," he replied in a matter-of-fact voice.

"Kankurou is gonna meet up with Kiba after the exam for a drink," Hitsuka translated. When he received some wide-eyed stares, he shrugged and replied, "You don't want to know."

Well, how could he say that he was fluent with this language thanked to his older female cousins when he obviously had none here. Apparently it was not only universal, it was also dimensional. His face darkened at the wave of memories and was glad for the shouts from the audience as it would mean his painful wince from phantom pain induced by his memory-cousins went unnoticed.

Temari snapped her fan open to the first dot, her eyes flashing dangerously. "Are you coming or not!?" she snared, causing Kankurou and Kiba taking a step back in fright and Akamaru buried his head into the jacket.

Hayate nodded his agreement, having already called for the start awhile ago. 'This is the first time that the fight has taken so long to begin! Goodness…' he mind grumbled like an old, dry granny.

Anyway, Kiba and Akamaru – who had been inside his master's jacket – both shifted their focus on their opponent, baring their teeth and growling.

Temari just smiled. It was not one of those, 'I like you but I have to beat you to a pulp'. More like a, 'I hate you and I will beat you to a bloody pulp'.

"So…" Hayate lifted up his hand, readied to start the fight which had took far too long for his liking. The two fighters plus one dog rushed head on at each other. "HEY! I didn't say start!"

Obviously, no one really took him serious.

Kiba quickly made a hand seal and vanished from Temari's sight, surprising her. 'So he does have a brain,' she thought as she was slammed in the stomach and flew backwards, not having reacted in time to put up her protection. But she did notice the second attack and was able to slam her closed fan on top of Akamaru.

The dog, although took some damage, nimbly twisted his way out of the unique weapon before he took full damage and stood next to his master, his hackle raised and teeth baring.

'Guess have to go serious now, Akamaru's limping slightly,' Kiba thought worryingly, his hand easily found the pill with the hidden pouch up his sleeve. Without the need to command, the dog swallowed the medicine without any doubt.

It was an impressive display of change. It was not every day that one could see a dog turning red like a drunk. "That's why he's Akamaru," Kiba explained with a smirk, popping a pill in his mouth too. "Let's go, Akamaru!"

Temari watched with interest as the dog leaped upon the crouching form of his master, barking and howling along with Kiba's cry of: "Juujin Bunshin!!" And now, standing in front of her, were the Kiba twins plus fangs and claws.

'That's just slightly disturbing,' Temari thought idly, shaking her fan fully open with a snap. "You know what? I just realised I hate dogs…" she said, frowning at the dripping spittle and smell. Dodging agilely despite the increase in opponents, she watched and calculated before swinging her fan into an empty space.

Then into a Kiba.

"Ouch!" he cried, feeling as if his sisters and her dogs slammed right into him after he had sold articles of their clothing in an auction. But he quickly bounced back, having been used to this kind of abuse, and he noticed an opening. "Gatsuga!"

"Oh crap!" the girl yelled, twisting her body and pulling her weapon up as a shield against the twin hurricane that was coming towards her. The heavy fan withstood the onslaught of half of the attack and Temari bore the other admirably with only a soft grunt of pain. The Kiba that came into contact with the fan landed with a hand on his side, hurt from his own assault.

"That's one hell of an attack," Temari said, her brows drawing together into a deep frown. Then, her face brightened so fast that the human Kiba actually took a step back. "But the same trick won't on me twice!"

"We'll see about that!" The Kiba twins twisted their bodies and flashed their claws, performing their special taijutsu of Gatsuga again.

Temari allowed the smile to play on her lips, standing there and watched as the deadly whirlwinds came closer. "Dai Kamaitachi no Jutsu (Cyclone Blade no Jutsu)…" she whispered, swinging the fan easily.

The air in between the two opponents coiled and lashed out violently, forming into the cyclones the jutsu's name had suggested. They collided right into the double cyclones coming from the opposite, flinging the two beings within away and into the wall. "How…" Kiba choked out while Akamaru turned back into his dog form. "Our strengths should've been strong enough to break through your jutsu!"

Temari laughed. "Ever noticed how you guys always turn in the same direction? I just need to send a twister at you in the opposite direction to diffuse your momentum and another one to destroy you," she explained happily, knowing her plan would protect her from any other assaults of similar kind.

Kiba narrowed his eyes, and the master and the dog growled simultaneously.

"This has taken long enough," Temari continued, spreading her feet apart to gain some balance. "It's time to end this!"

Several blasts of Dai Kamaitachi no Jutsu later, the medic-nin had to scrap a human and a dog off the ceiling where the cyclones had drilled them into. Kiba and Akamaru had of course fought against the fate of losing, bringing out their claws and sharp teeth. But those were useless against the girl's jutsu which was both offensive and defensive.

While it was a sad ending for the beast boy, it was fortunate that no one was badly injured and could remain to watch the remaining matches. Both the Konoha and Suna genin swarmed up to the two fighters to congratulate them for the good round. Naruto heartedly pounded on Kiba's back and said loudly, "Man! That's was so cool! Grow you fangs again! Grow your fangs again!"

Kiba's mood immediately swung from that of sadness to explosive anger and annoyance. "You wanna see some fangs!? I'll show you some fangs!" he screamed, going at the boy along with Akamaru.

"Ow! I was praising you! Ow! Get off me, you mutts! Quit biting!"

Hitsuka laughed along with everyone else. 'It's just like you to make someone happy at the expense of yourself,' he thought. 'You're too kind, Naruto.'

Hayate suddenly realised the fight was already over and that he hadn't called out who the winner was and no one had noticed. Quickly standing up so he was not losing anymore spotlight time, he was prepared to call for the next match's participants. But he promptly sat down as the sudden lack of blood to his brain caused significant dizziness, resulting in him being carted off the scene to be treated.

"Well, will Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino begin the match," the Third said in the stead of the foolish jounin, a sweat drop secretly ran down the back of his head.

**Haruno Sakura vs. Yamanaka Ino**

"I never thought I will be fighting you during this exam," Sakura told the other girl. "Well, at least not so soon."

"Humph," Ino tossed her hair back, "I won't lose to you! And I'll show Sasuke-kun who is the best!"

"Ino…" The pinked-haired girl sighed but was smiling, uncertain even herself if it was at the immaturity of her friend or at the thoughts of her old self. She took her forehead-protector off and stared at it for a moment, marvelling at just how far she had walked away from the shallow, Sasuke-the-God-crazed Haruno Sakura. She finally placed it where it was designed to be and looked over at the other girl. "Come on, Ino. Let this fight be one that's between rivals!"

Slightly taken back, the blonde girl never less mirrored the other girl's action as she, too, remembered the promise they had made after they became kunoichi. "You are going down! Forehead-girl!" Ino shouted across the arena with a grin, pumped by the previous fights and this whole new attitude her friend had adopted. 'But, I will definitely win against her! She had never beaten me before – granted, that was when we were still in the Ninja Academy, but nothing has changed!' she thought confidently and arrogantly.

Sadly, even though Sakura had tried to distinguish the difference between now and then, the proud arrogance of the other had prevented that. Apparently, even Sakura's recent makeover of practicality did not count as a change.

Fallen silent with a concentrated frown, Sakura calmly evaluated the blonde girl with critical eyes as her hands deftly tied her now shorter hair into a low ponytail. Her time with Team 7 had matured her and it worked hand in hand with her intelligence.

Slightly annoyed by her silence in the face of her taunting, Ino fumed quietly, waiting for the starting signal.

"Begin!"

The pink-haired girl immediately flung a couple of kunai in a wide arc, catching Ino off guard by her speed. Never less, the blonde girl flipped over the attack easily as it was simple. She smirked to herself in triumph, believed in an easy win as she was sure her rival was weak. She never saw the kick that flashed out from behind her.

Crashing into the ground, Ino managed to roll back up into a stand. But Sakura was not finished, pushing on and left no intervals for a moment of rest.

"Sakura's doing very well!" Naruto cheered with Lee echoing him, a wide grin on both of their faces.

Kakashi agreed quietly. 'She had really pulled her act together during the last couple of months,' he thought, silently congratulating the girl.

"Ino," Sakura said to the panting girl who had fallen to the ground, "you'll never be able to win against me if you don't get serious soon."

Ino's heated face flushed a deeper red with embarrassment and anger, her tiredness and fatigue temporarily forgotten. "Who do you think you are talking to!?" she yelled heatedly, her voice loud and harsh. "Don't get ahead of yourself!"

"Don't listen to her!" Shikamaru yelled, knowing full well how quick his team mate's temper was. "She's just bluffing!"

Sakura leapt towards her opponent, right hand already in a fist. Ino clumsily jumped away as the pinked-haired punched where she was just sitting a split-second ago. A hole, not a huge one but one never less, appeared with a _crash_ and flying rocks and chips. "Do I look like I'm bluffing?" she asked coolly and the smart, lazy boy on the balcony shut his trap after a grumble of: "Women, how troublesome…"

'Since when does Forehead girl has such strength!?' Ino wondered wildly, the first thread of panic started to wind around her heart, tightly. 'I know neither Sasuke-kun nor Naruto-baka have this kind of power, even though Sasuke-kun definitely doesn't need it!' Shaking her head quickly to get her mind back into the game, she quickly came to one conclusion, 'So… it must have been him!'

Hitsuka was a bit confused when the blonde girl turned to face him with a glare and the one finger salute.

"What have you done to that girl?" Haku whispered, fighting off his laugh.

"Ha, ha. Put a cap on it!" the white-haired boy snarled, annoyed by the implication the other was dropping. "Idiot…" he muttered under his breath which only made the snow boy's shoulder shook harder in silent laughter.

While Ino was mentally screaming rubbish at the ignorant boy upstairs, Sakura took this instant of distraction to attack again. "Holy crap!" The blond only just managed to dodge all the attacks and not get pummelled, that was, until her long ponytail flew into her face. A punch landed on her and she was flung back from the force of it, gasping for air while spitting hair out from her mouth. As these two actions could not be done simultaneously, she almost choked on her own hair. Not exactly the best reason to be wheeled into ER for.

'Ino… I am always thankful for all the encouragement you had given ever since we were little kids. Your words were what had helped me to become who I am now,' Sakura thought, her eyes softened slightly. 'This is why I must win against you, in order for me to leave you once and for all.'

Ino's face was twisted with anger in response to what she saw on her rival's face. "There's no way you could be even with me!" she yelled, hating the confident look on the other.

Sakura frowned. "Ino… if you still cannot think of me other than the little girl that always run behind you then, yes, I could be and be better than you!" She indicated at herself. "Look at me; do I look like the child that cares about her looks more than being a damn good kunoichi? Grow up, Ino, this fight should never be about a guy!"

Haku nudged Sasuke who merely turned his face away in embarrassment. Kakashi nodded proudly. 'I take back what I thought of you on our first day, Sakura,' he thought with a grin on his face.

Ino's body shook and the knuckles of her right hand that was wrapped around a kunai had gone white. "You- You of all people… You should better stop disrespecting me!" she finally cried out after the initial stuttering, her emotions high and jittery.

"Dammit! How could you let that her trash talk get you!" Shikamaru muttered irately, his body language spoke fear and worry.

"I don't like this Ino…" Chouji whimpered,

In front of everyone, the blonde girl suddenly grabbed her high ponytail and slid the kunai easily through it. Everyone, including Hitsuka, was shocked at this turn of event. 'Wow… I thought with everything different this would not happen,' the white-haired boy thought, wondering if some things are just fated to be.

'Oh Gods! She's completely lost it!' Shikamaru mind screamed, his face and palms sweaty at the thought of spending his future on a team with a crazy and troublesome woman.

"Garghhhh! I don't need this!" Ino threw her hair in front of her and it spectacularly fluttered down into a mass on the floor.

Sakura growled, "This was not what I meant!" She herself had been heartbroken when she had to cut her hair off in order to escape the hold Kin had on her. Despite the annoyance in taking care of her hair and it constantly being caught on branches, she had loved this part of herself with a girlish pride. And now her rival, who was also her friend despite everything else, had just thrown away something important to her over some nonexistent, childish competition.

Ino's hands came together into a seal. "I'm going to end this right now! I will make "I forfeit" come out of your mouth!" she promised and threw her hands forward and away from her.

Sakura immediately recognised this pose, having had seen it enough times in the past as the other had practiced. "The Shintenshin…"

The whole Team 10 groaned, not believing how Ino could make such a bad decision just because she was mad. Well, when they really thought about it, yeah… she could.

"Ino, I know the weaknesses of your jutsu. You can't honestly believe you can catch me!" Sakura warned, crouching down slightly to jump in any direction if needed. "I know I can catch you in your 'doll' state."

'That's true,' Asuma thought and hope that the girl's kind warning could snap Ino out of her anger. 'Shintenshin is originally a spying jutsu and not one for battles… For her to be using it now is just asking to lose.'

"So what!? We won't know until I try!" Ino yelled back defiantly, still going for it.

Sakura sighed. "It you miss, this fight will be over," she said, a tint of regret in her voice. "You understand that, right?" At that moment, she noticed how the other girl's fingers twitched and she instantly ran sideways, keeping her body low. She knew that as soon as Ino's finger slid together into that final seal, she would have completed her jutsu.

In a moment of confusion, when both girls' body slumped forward, no one, not even Hitsuka, knew who was still conscious. Then, Sakura muttered, her voice sad, "Too bad… Ino…"

"It's over!" Shikamaru said, defeated.

"It didn't work…" Chouji looked disappointed and sad for his team-mate.

It was when the pink-haired girl noticed the restricted movement did she realised it was in fact her that fell into a trap. 'Oh no!'

"I finally caught you!" Ino said cheerfully, her hands were conducting a line of chakra using her cut hair as the medium to tie Sakura's foot in place. "It was all just an act to get your guards down to fall into my trap!"

Sakura hacked at the rope with a kunai but it was well protected with its layer of blue chakra. 'I don't believe this! It was me who had been over-confident!' she berated herself, angry for underestimating her opponent while telling the other not to. 'I should listen to what I say!'

"This time, there's a one hundred percent success rate for my jutsu!" Ino said confidently, her hands forming the hand seals once again.

"That was all just an act?" the lazy boy upstairs wondered. "Man! Women are scary…"

"So… Shintenshin no Jutsu!"

It was, without a doubt that, when the bodies slumped forward this time, Ino had succeeded. "Too bad…" Sakura said again, eerily echoing herself. "Sa-ku-ra!"

"Sakura's not going to lose, is she!?" Naruto asked Kakashi worryingly, flicking his eyes between his female team-mate and teacher, hoping for a negative answer.

Kakashi shook his head slowly. "With Shintenshin… it's over," he answered sadly, showing the weight behind his words.

"So Sakura-san is…" Lee started, too afraid to finish his words.

This time, it was Sasuke who answered, "Yeah… Sakura's mind had been completely taken over by Ino."

Hitsuka noticed the boy's grips on the handrail seemed hard enough to break the thing so he laid his hand over them. "Don't worry," he said with that knowing smile again on his lips. "Why don't we wait until the end before we started judging?"

Kakashi glanced at the boy, his eye questioning at his confidence but found no answers. 'Could he actually…'

When Sakura started raising her hand to gain the referee's attention, a collective breathes was taken by the occupants of the room. But, the suspense crashed horribly when the limb merely stayed in the air as the girl tried to choke out the words that would make Ino the winner.

'You know… it's not over yet…' Ino heard Sakura whispering softly in her ears, wrapping around her conscious.

"Oh my God!" Sakura screamed, causing everyone to jump at the sudden loudness. "How is… this… possible…!" she groaned, clutching her head as the pressure built up within.

"Go Sakura! You can't lose here!" the girl's friends encouraged and cheered, which only made Ino feel physically worse.

"Did you want to forfeit?" Hayate asked as it was getting worryingly at the girl's decreasing state of mind.

"Like hell I'll forfeit!" Sakura yelled as a glimmer of her Inner-self started to surface, thus successfully shoving Ino out of main control.

'How is this possible!' Ino thought in confusion again, her grips of control losing rapidly.

'Ino…' Sakura thought, appearing in front of the spirit-form of the said girl. She smiled ever so sweetly, reminding the other of a particular boy. 'If you don't get out of my mind now, I will do so many things to you, you would wish I never pick up that 'Torture 101' book in the library.'

While Ino would never admit it, it was perhaps the fasted release of her jutsu she had ever done. Both girls were now panting for breaths as they planned for their next moves.

Kakashi could only stare at Hitsuka, not believing what he had just witnessed. 'How could he have known!?'

"Two minds… What exactly are you?" Ino asked, unable to believe her jutsu had failed.

"Didn't you know?" Sakura replied weakly, her body and mind exhausted from fighting for control, "women have to be tough to survive…"

"Will… your other mind is more of a woman than you are," the blonde girl said with a smirk though her body shivered at the memory of the coldness in that voice. Sakura merely shrugged, not finding the anger in her anymore.

'So… this is the end,' Ino thought as she rushed forward from her crouching position at the other.

'This is the end,' Sakura agreed, her right arm pulled back for a simple punch.

The clash rung loud and clear in the still stadium with everyone praying for their friend to become the victor. When a body fell in a dead faint, the other managed to catch her in time, staggering slightly under the weight. "This is the end," Sakura muttered under breath, out loud this time as her forehead protector slid off her face and joined the one that was already on the floor, thus signalling the end of the fight between the rivals, returning them back to friends.

"Haruno Sakura is the winner!" Hayate called out and the cheers drowned out any other words he spoke. While slightly boring, this match had ended spectacularly, showing how far the two kunoichi had came with Sakura perhaps a bit further ahead. It was, after all, her trainings that had allowed her to withstand the punch and get in a good one herself.

Both Kakashi and Asuma had come down to help, both men giving each other a tired grin. After passing Ino to her teacher, Sakura had allowed her own to support her back up where she was immediately flooded by the other genin. That was until Hitsuka and Hinata had beaten them off and away from the two tired fighters, allowing them to rest in peace. Once making sure her friend was fine after a reassurance from Asuma, the winner of the match had fallen asleep.

"This was surprising…" the bearded teacher said, looking at the two sleeping girls.

"Yeah…" Kakashi agreed.

"I could understand Sasuke or Naruto. But even Sakura had grown this much!" Asuma complimented, though his face was unreadable.

"Many things have happened, but from the bottom of my heart, I'm glad I entered them in this Chuunin Exam," Kakashi said, his eye turned into his crescent smile of his. The members of his team grinned.

"Now!" Hayate yelled, drawing the scattered attentions back onto himself after he had snuck his way out of the infirmary. "Gaara no Suna vs. Dosu! Would you come forward…"

"Hah… You're finally awake," Ino said to the girl next to her when she groaned and started shifting.

"Ino… I…"

"I really want to cry," Ino cut in, holding her head high, "for losing to the likes of you."

"But…"

"But nothing! I will come back!" The blonde girl smiled fiercely, promising her future victories. "Here…" She held out Sakura's forehead protector. "You have bloom into a beautiful flower!"

"Ino…"

'Thank you…'

**Gaara no Suna vs. Kinuta Dosu **

'Crap, I'm the last one from Oto,' Dosu fumed. 'Those two imbeciles! I'll beat this guy no matter what and prove to Orochimaru-sama that I am the best!'

Unfortunately for the little ambitious, evil Oto-nin, his opponent was not someone that could be taken down so easily. Especially when he was angry. Oh, yes, Gaara had heard about what happened in the Forest of Death from Team 7 and the one day absence of the white-haired boy had only increased his anxiety.

'Screw everything!' he thought, uncorking his weapon, 'he's going to die!'

"Gaara! Go get him!" both Naruto and Sasuke yelled enthusiastically. "Kick his ass!"

Hitsuka face-palmed. He had already felt the blood lust from his Suna friend, and the two idiots next to him were not helping.

"Begin!" Hayate yelled, feeling and thriving in the small rush of power and control after the previous lost of them. Except no one was paying any attention to him. Most of the genin were either cheering for the person they were supporting – namely Gaara – or comatose from the previous fight – like the Oto-nin. Others were too interested in the silent eye-conversation between Gaara and Hitsuka.

'No, you may not maim or disfigure your opponent,' Hitsuka sent, his eyes hard.

'Oh, come on! I already promised I won't kill him!' Gaara's eyes whined, widening into those of the kicked puppy. 'Just one arm? Please? Or an eyeball?'

'No,' Hitsuka chid gently. 'He's an asshole, I will give you that, but you must not bring yourself-'

"Stop ignoring me!" Dosu yelled angrily, pointing his weapons at his opponent. "Die!!!"

The Suna-genin's shield acted automatically upon detecting the bloodlust aiming at its master. The grains of sand effectively diffused the sound attack as they had merely vibrated against each other and creating heat – not even enough to melt them into glass. Following on his usually routine, Gaara waved his hand carelessly and flooded the Oto-nin with his sand as he continued to argue with the stubborn white-head.

'Please? Can I just break his arms then?' he relented, his goal of gore and blood decreasing by the minute.

Hitsuka shook his head again. 'Like I was saying, you should not reduce yourself to his level.'

"Gaara of Suna is the winner!" Hayate announced suddenly, breaking the argument between the two boys. He then gave a pointed look at the winner, indicating he should release the captive.

"What?" Gaara cried and various calls of similar context rose from the crowd.

"My work here is done." Hitsuka said with a smirk and Haku swivelled around to ogle at him with wide eyes.

"You did not… No way… I mean, you didn't just…" he stuttered, unable to finish any of the sentences he started.

"Release the captive," Hayate demanded superiorly but only earned himself an annoyed glare from the red-head.

Disappointed, Gaara released his jutsu and an almost suffocated Dosu tumbled out, sand flowing out from his nose and mouth as he had to breathe when he completely ran out of air. He twitched and started convulsing at an attempt to rid himself of the grains, but he soon fell unconscious.

"Damn… he's still alive," the red-haired boy muttered sadly.

Hayate quickly waved the medic-nin to come over to help the fallen boy, standing back to give them room to do their work. "Urgh! What's with all the sand?" one of them cried, unable to clear an air passage to the lungs. "This boy will die!"

Hitsuka sighed. "Gaara…"

"No."

He tried again. "Come on… We went over this already."

"No! It's not like I am directly killing him!"

"… I'll give you cookies."

There was a pause, and then the answer came out slow and hesitant, "No… I'll have Temari-nee-san's."

"Then… it would be okay for me to tell everyone about the time you accidently kissed-"

The sand flew out of Dosu's internal system so fast that the boy's head snapped back. Fortunately, he lived and the medic-nin quickly worked to resuscitate him, pounding his chest with chakra covered fist until he was coughing and breathing once more. "Take him to the infirmary!" the leader ordered and Dosu was quickly carried out on a stretcher. While he had not suffered any external injuries, it was uncertain the extent of the internal damages.

"Sometimes… I really hate you, Hitsuka," Gaara muttered, glaring at the boy.

Hitsuka looked far too innocent. "Well… I did take part in looking after you when we were younger," he replied with his familiar smile – though perhaps slightly evil. "I call it a perk, still have several too…"

"Anyway!" Hayate said quickly, hoping to disperse the bloodlust rising from the red-head. "Last but not least! Uzumaki Naruto and Akimichi Chouji!"

Several people had noticed his coughs and pale face had all but disappeared. Probably, like everyone else, he was looking forward to finishing the day and a hot bath.

**Uzumaki Naruto vs. Akimichi Chouji **

The blond boy sobbed into the shoulder of his white-haired friend. "The last!" he wailed. "Why do I have to be the last one!? Why!"

"Turn off your water work and get in there," Kakashi said, bonking the boy on the head with his book.

"Gah! Don't taint my mind with that perverted stuff!"

Finally had enough of this meaningless bickering, Sasuke grabbed and pushed Naruto over the rail. He was surprised to find Sakura on the other side of the falling body. They gave each other a wide grin and chorus at the same time, "Great minds think alike!"

Naruto fumed slightly at how rough he was treated but bounced right back, eager for his long awaited fight.

Chouji, on the other hand, just wanted the barbeque Asuma had promised him.

Thankful his job was almost over, Hayate quickly started the last round. "Begin!"

Naruto immediately dropped down to his starting position, deciding that he would wait to see what his opponent's abilities were. "Go fatso!" he heard Ino yelled and was fascinated by the rapid colour change on Chouji face.

"Don't… Call… Me… FATSO!" the plump boy screamed and the ground rumbled beneath everyone's feet. "I am just big boned!

Naruto quickly jumped out of the way of the large, rolling meatball which soon crashed into the wall behind him. There was a moment of silence as dust settled lightly. Then…

"Dammit!" Chouji cursed, his massive body refused to budge.

Naruto repositioned his jaw and shook himself out of the stupor he was in. "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Five more Naruto came into existence. "Let's go guys!"

"Naruto you bastard! Taking advantage when someone is down!" Ino screamed, raining the arena with abuses. She soon shut up, surprised by what was going on. Naruto and his clones did not attack the poor boy in the wall with their weapons; instead, they were heaving and prying him out.

"Urgh…!"

With one last tug, the boy was at last free from his temporary prison. Not expecting this sudden lost of resistance, the multiple Naruto scattered quickly. But one was not fast enough and ended up running on the rolling ball of flesh.

Naruto pumped his legs, knowing that if he lost speed, he would be mercilessly rolled over by Chouji. With the skills he developed from his pranks, he managed to switch direction just before they slammed into the already battered wall. The Naruto clones attempted to stop the rolling mass but true to the destructive powers of the Akimichi family, Chouji just destroyed them one by one.

So, ever wonder about why Chouji was constantly eating and snacking? Think about it, they boy and his family's main jutsu required their numerous tissue cells, blood vessels, bones, skin and so on to buff up so that the whole body was twice the size or greater. So the energy and chakra required were enormous for such expansion. Thus one could conclude that Chouji could lose weight at such speed that most girls would die for.

And back to the fight. Or the lack of.

Naruto had won after fifteen minutes of the circus act. He brawled as he tried to shake the unconscious boy awake. Chouji, defeated, remained motionless. He had fainted due to the rapid lose of glucose thus suddenly and temporarily starved his brain of any energy. He had collapsed and returned to his normal size, albeit a bit smaller, causing Naruto to fell on top of him.

"Okay… Why didn't Chouji just stop his jutsu?" Ino asked, watching the medic-nin having problems lifting her team mate up.

Shikamaru sighed. "Probably with Naruto's help, he had gone faster than usual and became out of control and dizzy," he answered with a frown, hiding his concerns for his friend. Leaping over the hand rail before Ino replied, the lazy boy started as the white hair of Hitsuka appeared inside his view. The boy gave him a brief smile before they both gave a hand to the struggling medic-nin and Naruto.

When the big boy was safely tucked away, snoring lightly with a smile – Asuma-sensei had whispered promises of BBQ into his ears – Naruto once again latched on Hitsuka, crying about the unfairness of everything. The white-haired boy just vaguely patted the head that was in his face and tuned out the blabbering. 'Finally… It's finished…' he thought, his mind starting to go blank with fatigue.

"Well, with this, the preliminary trials for the Round 3 test have been completed!" Hayate shouted, his voice relieved and a brief bout of cheers rose at his words as all the genin who had won came down to stand in the arena. "Congratulations to all of you who won the right to compete in the Third Round Test in the Chuunin Exam!" He then turned towards the Hokage who had arrived with his escorts flanking him. "Well then, Hokage-sama, if you would please…"

"Yes… Well, I'd like to start explaining the main test," the old muttered around his pipe and adjusted his Hokage hat.

'At last!' was the thought that went through everyone's head, both excited and relieved.

Then the speech began. "As I told you before, in the main event, your matches will be seen by everybody. Each of you will fight to represent the strengths of your countries. I'd like you to show off all your powers with no reserves. Which is why the finals will be held one month from now," the Sandaime paused and waited for any questions.

"So this is a break?" Naruto asked, his hand raised as if in a class. 'But I wanna get this thing over and done with!' he whined to himself.

The Hokage nodded and explained, "Well, you can use this time as you see fit. For the others, it's a time for us to prepare the stage for you. We will need to inform the various Country Lords and ninja leader of the information and allow them the time to gather here for the last Round."

Then Hitsuka tuned him out, unable to concentrate anymore on things such as 'knowing your enemies' and 'what your weaknesses are'. He looked up and allowed his eyes to wandered, slightly savouring his victory. Until his eyes landed upon another pair that were slit like his and he narrowed his own. 'Orochimaru…' he growled, itching to point and yell but knew he would put everyone in danger if he did that. 'Wait! Where's Kabuto! In another time, he was ordered to kidnap Sasuke… but would he do that now? When I am the one with the Curse Seal? Crap… this is too confusing…'

The man responded to the glare with a creepy smile before teleporting away. Hitsuka tried to follow the lingering chakra but was limited by his current state.

'Curses!'

"So, before I dismiss you all, there is something that has to be done for the finals," The final tone of the Hokage pulled Hitsuka back into reality and he knew they were about to be let free. Anko step forwards with a box in her hands. "There are pieces of paper inside the box Anko is holding and each of you shall take one."

"I'll come around so wait for you turn!" Anko said and held it out for Hinata. The girl looked slightly confused at the paper before a face cleared, understanding what it stood for.

Once the round was finished, Ibiki asked for the number from each people starting from the left. And it went like this:

Hinata: 8

Sasuke: 3

Neji: 6

Hitsuka: 1

Naruto: 5

Haku: 2

Temari: 4

Shikamaru: 10

Sakura: 9

Gaara: 7

"So, now I will tell you who you are up again in the Final Tournament!" the Hokage announced.

"What! That's what we drew the numbers for!?" Shikamaru shouted along with the others.

Ibiki showed the crowd the list he had been drawing up for the first round of the Final Tournament, his face bored.

1. Yuki Hitsuka vs. Haku

2. Uchiha Sasuke vs. Temari

3. Uzumaki Naruto vs. Hyuuga Neji

4. Gaara of the Suna vs. Hyuuga Hinata

5. Haruno Sakura vs. Nara Shikamaru

Hitsuka looked at list, surprised. He knew it would be different as the participants were not the same, but still. 'I am up against Haku!?' He turned to look at the boy who gave him a delighted grin which he returned in earnest. The two boys never had the chance to fight all out against each other and this was a great chance!

Temari groaned. 'The Final is just a regular tournament against each other? Man…'

'Oh crap… I've got an extra match! It's not like I want to avenge Chouji or anything…' Shikamaru thought with a small pout on his lips.

'Hmm… Hyuuga… Hinata…' Gaara thought slowly. 'Who's that?'

Both Neji and Naruto griped their fists and pumped them. 'Yes! Against him!' they thought.

"So any other questions?" the Sandaime enquired politely, readied to dismiss the lot of them.

Shikamaru raised his hand. "Since it's a tournament, it would mean that there's only one winner, right?" he asked and everyone perked up. "Which would mean that only one person can become a chuunin, doesn't it?"

The Hokage smiled and replied, "No, that's not quite right. There will be several judges including myself, the Kazekage, the Lords of various countries and other ninja leaders. These judges will be evaluating your abilities, judging if you have the necessary qualities of a chuunin. One can become a chuunin even if he loses his first match."

"Does that mean it is a possibility that everyone here will become a chuunin?" Sakura asked.

"Yes." But the Third's face was grim. "But there's also the possibility that no one will become a chuunin! To advance in the tournament means that you will have more chances to appeal to the judges," he said. "Now, you're all dismissed until a month from now!"

_Later that day_

"I really need to take a shower soon!" Naruto shouted. He took a sniff of himself, grimaced and warned, "You don't wanna be near me when raise my arms!"

"I need one just as much as you do," Haku growled, his hand stopping on several knots in his hair.

Hitsuka sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Ever since they came back an hour ago, all of the occupants of the one bathroom apartment had been arguing who had the right to go first. Even Zabuza was taking part in the argument as he had just come back from a mission and was cover in other people's blood. "You know what? Screw this, I am going to the bathhouse," he finally muttered, heading towards the bathroom to gather his stuffs. "I need a good dip anyway…"

"I'm coming too!" the blond boy suddenly yelled, bouncing up to follow him.

"That's actually a good idea," Haku agreed, wondering why he didn't think of it. "I've heard that the water at this new bathhouse is very relaxing and nice. Are you coming, Zabuza-san?"

The huge man shrugged. "May as well. Then I don't need to scrub the blood off the tiles myself."

Hitsuka body trembled slightly and his knuckles turned white as he gripped the door frame harder and harder. 'We wasted an hour arguing and now no one is going to use the bathroom!? If it weren't for the fact I've got the idea in my head now I would really…'

"Hitsuka! Hitsuka! You're breaking the wall!"

_At the bathhouse_

Naruto stared, his mind unable to comprehend the scene in front of him. "Wha-What are you doing here!" he yelled, causing those around him to wince. Except Hitsuka, he was used to it and had already stuffed his fingers in his ears. "You've got a freakin' indoor pool for a bathroom!"

The Hyuuga boy sniffed. "Hiashi-sama and otousan were trying out this new taijutsu and the blast of it eliminated the bathroom," he explained with a resigned look. "And after that… err… 'incident' involving someone's hair at the Hyuuga mansion, no one there dared to let me use their shower and I am not really allowed in the Main House."

Naruto frowned at the prejudice but shrugged it away. "Let's go in!" He ran through the open sliding door while shouting, "Number one! I'm so getting the No.1 locker!"

"Pay first!" the old man that own the place yelled out from his place high up in the counter. "Naruto! I am keeping four eyes on you today! So no swimming!" he joked, pointing at the glasses on his nose then at the mischievous boy while squinting. Naruto returned the gesture in good humour.

"Sorry about that, Teruya-san," Hitsuka apologised, placing the money on the counter. "I'll watch him too," he promised but no sooner had he said that, a loud wail was heard, causing him to sigh.

"Nooooo!"

"Ha! I have the No. 1 locker!" a familiar voice taunted and it was straight away recognised as one Uchiha Sasuke. While he danced around a dejected Naruto, the other filed in to undress and put their things away.

"Man… How troublesome… Even Naruto is here," Shikamaru drawled, already naked and in a towel with Chouji by his side, stuffing the last bag of chips into his mouth. "Why's everyone here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," the white-haired boy replied, wishing now that he had stayed at home instead.

"Apparently a main pipe on our side of the town had burst so we are out of water until tonight," the lazy boy explained, waiting for his giant friend to finish before going into the bathing area. "Even though it's still early in the day, mum threw me out 'cause she thinks I stinks and dirty."

"Same for me, I live on that part of the town, too," Sasuke chipped in, having had enough fun tormenting the blond. "Hey, it's Gaara!"

"Hitsuka!" the red-head greeted, walking in with an older male behind him. "We've decided to try out the onsen in Konoha that we've heard so much about."

"Hey dude, who's your friend?" Naruto asked, bouncing up to the boy after giving one last shove at his clothes into the locker.

"My friend?"

Hitsuka was giggling at crestfallen face of the said friend. "That's the before face of Kankurou-san," he clarified as the Suna boy was indeed without makeup.

Naruto and Sasuke's eyes widened. "You wear makeup!?" they chortled and had to run because an embarrassed and angry foreign genin was chasing after them. They were safe after they sought sanctuary inside the bathing area while Kankurou was still fully clothed and could not enter.

Seeking revenge, the boy shed his clothes in record time and was impatiently calling out, "You guys ready yet?"

"Yeah, finally," Hitsuka said, placing Naruto's nicely folded clothes into a locker with a small sigh. "Even Zabuza-san and Haku-san had already gone in!"

While everyone was washing up, the aforementioned duo was already done and was soaking in the large pool of water, enjoying the warmth. They were surprised to find Kakashi in it before them and soon found out that the broken pipe had affected quite a huge chunk of Konoha. Though they were still mystified by the fact the man was still wearing his mask despite the humidity and heat.

"I'm bored…" Zabuza suddenly complained and his words were uncharacteristic.

"Zabuza-san…?" It was as if Haku was hallucinating because there was no way the fearful, ex-Kiri-nin was pouting. Nah… must be the mist and the heat.

But Zabuza's lips were slightly raised, an unconscious act that had developed during his time in Konoha. Well, he had been left alone in the apartment by his three younger companions for quite a while and there were only so many things that he could do by himself. He found himself wishing for something fun and interesting to do now.

"Why not a prank?" Kakashi suggested, his eyes twinkling from underneath his flopping wet hair. "Ice the floor and we'll have a free show!"

This idea was met with enthusiastic response and regardless of the high temperature, Haku was successful in spreading his chakra-made ice across the floor in front of the water. To help, Zabuza used a smaller version of his own jutsu and increased the density of the mist so no one could be alerted to the evilness at play. Now, they waited for their first victim.

Having had finished washing, Shikamaru stood up carefully on the wet floor and walked towards the stone-surrounded onsen while finger-brushing his hair back. He was slightly annoyed when his feet came in contact with something cold but that emotion soon escalated to hyperventilation as he found himself doing cartwheels across the room. He was doing flips and rolls that he never took the trouble to find out if he could and was thankful at the back of his mind that his towel did not fly off. He was doing fine until…

… He landed right into the hottest pool there was.

He was very proud of himself for not screaming though his butt was going to look like that of a monkey's for quite a while.

Next came Kankurou who was looking forward to submerge himself in the water – living in a desert had its faults as water was precious and was rarely used recreationally. He really did not expect his feet to slide forward, causing him to lean to regain his balance, only to be tripped by the stones before plunging face first into the onsen. He wondered briefly at the back of his mind if this was some kind of initiation or ritual that everyone had to go through before entering the water. At the hooting laughter surrounding him, he guessed it was not. But before he could get his revenge a gigantic sword at his neck held by one of the prankster had quelled the thought and he had to be content with only graphic imagination.

While Chouji had entered the bathhouse at the same time as Shikamaru, he was slower due to the larger surface area he needed to wash. "Shikamaru, where are you?" he called out, stomping forward while searching for his missing friend. "Shikamaru!"

_Crash! Crash! _The three pranksters sweat-dropped, watching as the giant boy pulled his feet out of the holes he had made in the ice, completely unaffected by its slipperiness. 

"Chouji, over here," Shikamaru weakly called out, his butt sitting on the cool pool. Chouji looked confused but decided not to think about it. He was not the brainy one from the two, so if Shikamaru was freezing his behind off, then there must be a reason for it. He joined the four people in the onsen and was careful not to create huge waves. He was puzzled by the disappointed looks but his simple mind shrugged and focused on being warm.

Naruto rushed through the process of cleaning, aiming to beat Sasuke into the onsen. But before he could rush off, Hitsuka had snagged and dragged him back before forcing him to sit down. "I'm done!" the blond child yelled, squirming away.

Hitsuka knocked him on the head. "You still have suds in your hair," he said with a huff, easily silenced the loud boy with a towel and another was used to tie him in place. Then he proceeded to wash Naruto's hair, again. "When will you ever grow?"

"See you later!" Sasuke said with a laugh, fluttering his fingers mockingly and all Naruto could do was glare. The brunet strolled casually – further infuriating the blond – and headed for the hot water. He frowned when his feet encountered coldness, instantly gripping to the ground with his chakra before he took another step. "What the…" he wondered out loud, seeing the flickering light that reflected off the long stretch of ice.

"Done!" a voice behind him cheered and he heard the _thump, thump_ of running feet.

"Naruto, wait-!" Before Sasuke could even finish the short sentence, a body barrelled into him and tore his feet off the ground. The two boys flew spectacularly into the air with their limbs everywhere. One managed to land on the surface of the water perfectly, while the other decided he should just go along with it and became a canon ball.

"Naruto…" Kakashi said tiredly, averting his eyes.

"Yeah?"

"Please put your thing away."

Naruto _humph_-ed but lowered himself into the water before wadding away to look for his missing towel.

Gaara was readied next, taking some time to direct all the sand off himself, revealing skin that all girls envy and would kill for. The sand not only protected him from the tanning UV rays, it also exfoliated the dead skin cells off, leaving his skin white and smooth.

Anyway, he was perhaps the most boring reaction for everyone that was now in the game. Upon noticing the frozen floor, he simply stepped onto his sand that was his constant companion and floated to his destination. He even made steps for himself to go into the water. "What?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Naruto gave him a dead look. "You suck…" he replied before splashing the boy with water. After the shock and confusion had worn off, an all out water fight had broken out. It only stopped when the water froze in midair into interesting shapes and crashed upon Kankurou who was not fast enough.

Twisting his hair up and held there with a large clip, Neji prepared himself for a nice, relaxing dip after a long day. Only to crack his head on the ground as he somehow and very suddenly fell backwards. Lying there on the ground, the lower half of his body going numb with cold, he wondered what he did or who he pissed off to deserve this.

"Oh crap…" Haku muttered, signally Gaara to drag the boy to the onsen with his sand before he fixed him up with a healing jutsu.

"Naruto, Sasuke, get rid of the blood," Zabuza ordered and neither boy dared to complain. Though they did grumble something under their breaths as they clambered out that was either about the eyebrow-less man and an ass or a mafia and a banana.

At last, it was the boy that they had been waiting for – Hitsuka. It was quickly passed around that neither the Prankster Trio or the Naruto-Sasuke combo were able to prank the boy ever since the beginning. Could Haku and Zabuza achieve the unachievable? Could they reach a new height?

Hitsuka suspected nothing, having had not seen or felt those that fallen before him. This whole chakra-less thing was really screwing his senses up and over. Finally done with cleaning as he had been distracted by Naruto and had the need to take care of his hair, he started off in the direction of the onsen.

Everyone, now all sitting in the pool, waited with their breaths held in their lungs.

Five more steps…

Four more…

Three…

Two…

And…!

"Hitsuka, sensei, Tsunade-hime and I want to speak with you," Jiraiya said, squatting on the bamboo fence and had spoken through the ventilation hole. "Come on, chop, chop!"

The boy gave the man an exasperated look. "Can't it wait?" he replied in a pleading voice. "I am really tired and I want to relax in the onsen!"

Jiraiya was already shaking his head even before he finished. "As I would love to stay for an 'information' gathering session, sensei had made it clear this is important."

Heaving out a sigh, Hitsuka retraced his steps but stopped when he heard loud groans from behind him. "Just a dip!" Naruto wailed.

"Come on!" Sasuke yelled.

"Why only me…" those with physical pain moaned at the unfairness.

Jiraiya quickly caught on, having had the advantage of higher ground and thus was able to see more. "It's okay, Hitsuka, let the old man wait for once. Go on!" he encouraged, waving at the boy.

Taken back by this sudden change of heart, Hitsuka faltered slightly and frowned. He was beginning to feel very uncomfortable when he felt everyone's eyes upon him – especially since all he had was a towel for modesty. "Right…" His need for relaxation was so overwhelming he decided to just go for it.

Once again, the countdown began. This time, even Jiraiya was holding his breath.

But just as Hitsuka's foot was about to come in contact with the slippery surface, it turned off at a tangent and everybody's head turned as the boy walked towards the pool where Shikamaru was in before. They winced when he sank right down up to his neck, sighing in content. "Gotta love the heat…" he muttered happily.

"You are cooking yourself in that!" Naruto all but screeched, unable to imagine anyone would actually go in there for leisure.

Hitsuka pouted. "It's good for your joints," he argued and stretched.

Jiraiya shook his head in disappointment. "Okay, time's up. Let's go…"

The white-haired boy shrugged. "What's up with everyone…? So uptight and everything," he questioned out loud and walked out.

"That was ridiculous!" Zabuza complained. "Nobody is that lucky!"

Shikamaru mopped his face. "What are the chances that he already knew?" he suggested.

Everyone shared a look. "Nah… There's no way anyone could have seen through that smog," Sasuke scoffed.

"Besides, Hitsuka can't use any of his chakra at the moment," Neji reminded everyone.

"So… What happened?"

That was what everyone wanted to know.

None of them knew that the boy of their topic was currently hunkering down on the other side of the door and was eavesdropping on every word. He started cackling evilly. "So naïve," he laughed and flexed his fingers, his grin growing with satisfaction as he saw the blue light dancing on his skin. "Oh well, it's not like I actually need my chakra to sense my surroundings. Though they may have gone too far with Neji-nii-san…"

Despite the chaotic ending for the day, it had been a rather satisfying and interesting day. Though Hitsuka now really hated the Hokage and the senin for dragging him out of his free time. Perhaps a plot of revenge was in order – after all, he still needed to pay a particular someone back for that beauty pageant.

* * *

(1) Hachimon, the Eight Inner Gates that, right now, only those with helmet bowl cut hair, thick eyebrows, green body suit and orange leg warmers can open.

Yeah… I am not worthy to ask you for reviews. So I will beg instead. Please? I will go and see a shrink about my lack of updating and everything.


	22. The Answers

The other day, when I was trying to draw what Hitsuka would look like, I realised something major. The Curse Seal I had invented for Hitsuka actually resembles Toyota's symbol – just with rounded edges instead of the diamonds.

Sigh…

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

* * *

Chapter twenty-two – The Answers

There were times when Hitsuka was sick of all the information of the possible future going through his head. Of course he was thankful he had them as this 'ability' of his was possibly what was keeping him alive in this dangerous world. Nevertheless, reading about characters' deaths on manga would never be the same for him; after all he actually knew them, well.

Right now, he would love nothing better than smashing his laptop into smithereens with Zabuza's zanbatou. 'Death's paperboy…' he thought in dark humour, putting the object away carefully despite his murdering thoughts. With a sigh, he silently apologised to his laptop which had faithfully served him for so many years and sealed the box it now safely rested in.

The boy stared unhappily at the object in his hands, deep in thoughts. "So they will die…" he muttered quietly, his emotions drained, leaving him empty and tired. "Konoha will fall… Itachi-nii-san will…"

He was suddenly very glad that the others had left the house for the day. Naruto had gone off training with Sasuke which meant Sakura would tag along, too. Haku and Zabuza had decided to get their own trainings done together due to the similarities in their jutsu.

He wobbly stood up and stumbled out of his room which he swore was filled with the smell of death. He had to get out of the apartment and away from places that would remind him so much of this new information. He just needed to get himself under control and it would be the best if he was away from everyone else when he blasted his surroundings away. The knowledge of his cover being endangered was his most prominent thought but he must leave. Long ago he had discovered mindless destruction would gift him the peace he required. Travelling swiftly over the rooftops, he soon came to the edge of the Konoha forest. With one last glance over his shoulder, he disappeared into the woods.

No one had seen him for the next four days.

Naruto was worried even though he knew the boy could take care of himself. But nothing like this had ever happened before as Hitsuka had always left a note of where he was going or that he was going on a mission. When no paper turned up despite the extensive search and the Hokage had denied of handing out any mission, the blond boy knew something was terribly wrong.

A small search team was quickly grouped together, consisted of only those that needed to know and could be spared: Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, Jiraiya and Tsunade. With Kakashi's nin-dogs, they knew that Hitsuka had not left the boundaries of Konoha gates and was still somewhere in the big village. Their research had led them to a large, perfectly round clearing devoid of anything – not even grass – in the Konoha forest and, upon deep scrutiny, discovered the clearing was only recently created. Tsunade had stated that Hitsuka had probably done this as the only lingering chakra was his.

Surprised at the extent of destruction the boy had done, they moved on and discovered three more clearings of similar nature. Finally, after they landed in the fifth clearing, they had found him. He was sitting in the middle of it, his chin on his crossed arms which sat upon his drawn up knees. Uncertain as to how they should approach him, they hovered at the edge of the clearing, hesitant. Even the usual boisterous Naruto was eerily quiet.

"I am sorry…" the white-haired boy said quietly, startling the silent search team. "I know I am an idiot but I needed this."

"Of course you are an idiot!" Naruto yelled, running up to him with a swinging fist. But Tsunade had beaten him to it.

The slap echoed loudly in the clearing.

"Don't you EVER do that again!" she cried, her hand surprisingly stung from the impact. She hated to admit it but Hitsuka's abrupt disappearance had brought forward depressing memories from the past. Nawaki had wandered away from her and was killed. Dan was separated from the team and she was too late. She had thought…

Cradling his face, Hitsuka stared numbly at the tear-filled eyes and looked passed the woman to the others. Closing his eyes to gather his thoughts one last time, he smiled. "Everything is fine now. I am fine now," he assured, perhaps more for himself then for the others.

"Why did you-"

"Please," Hitsuka interrupted Jiraiya, holding a hand up but that stance was not forceful. It was pleading. "Please… not now…"

The man's face turned red and then purple, obviously angered by being denied of this information. Kakashi had to physically restrain him as he feared Jiraiya's strike might leave more permanent damages than Tsunade's. During which the one-eyed jounin briefly experienced a flash of dark satisfaction, knowing that even the two senin were not deemed privilege to whatever new secrets Yuki Hitsuka was holding.

The party had left for the village centre in an uncomfortable silence; no one was willing to speak up in fear of thickening the ice instead of breaking it. The fact that their sole reason of being so deep in the forest to begin with was stubbornly keeping his mouth shut did not help either.

When only the two senin and Hitsuka were granted permission to stay after they had arrived at the HQ for debriefing, there was a moment of freely expressed fury and shouting from those that were left out. Though that was in vain as the Sandaime showed that while he could be the kind grandfather any kid wanted, he was still the leader of one of the largest villages.

But even he could not budge the white-haired boy's lips, leaving the occupants of the room frustrated and tensed. Hitsuka had bowed his head and asked to keep this to himself, bringing up one of the conditions he had set years ago. While reluctant, it was granted and the boy was allowed to leave but with a stern warning, demanding him to not to disappear like that ever again.

He did not reply with the expected – but unnecessary, as it was an order – promise.

Things quickly went back to way it was before Hitsuka's sudden disappearance as it was essential – the genin were eager to really begin their one-on-one training with their teachers. Despite his anger at the white-haired boy, Jiraiya still offered to take Hitsuka onboard, declaring that he, as one of the Legendary Senin, could of course easily handle two brats. The genin was grateful but had declined.

"You are planning to finish Naruto's training on Rasengan, are you not?" he asked, though it sounded more like a statement.

Raising an eyebrow, Jiraiya confirmed but was confused as to why this was brought up.

Hitsuka looked down at his hands and answered the silent question, "It would be rude of me to learn this technique when I have not been given permission by Naruto. Rasengan should be one of his family techniques, like that of the Nara Clan."

"So you do know that…"

"Yes. That's why Naruto should know about his lineage before he decides whether he would want anyone else to learn."

Jiraiya nodded his head and suggested a few names that Hitsuka could look up if he needed a teacher. Just as he was about to leave, Hitsuka spoke up again, "I would like to ask you about Gaara's… condition."

The man nodded, knowing what Gaara carried. "What about it?"

"Is there any way for you to modify the seal on Gaara? So that the boy may sleep normally?"

Jiraiya thought about it, messaging his chin. "I don't see why I can't; I'll have to do some research on it. But I believe, if I place the seal on now, the side effects may be similar to that of yours."

Hitsuka smiled happily. "Can't use his chakra for a day? Surely that will be acceptable…?" he trailed off when the man starting shaking his head before he finished.

"It may last more than a month as we are talking about altering a seal that has been with him since before he was born. His mother's death would have strengthened it, too," Jiraiya explained, showing the true depth of his knowledge despite the goofy persona he usually had.

The white-haired boy deflated, his bubble of happiness quickly collapsing on itself. "So with the upcoming Chuunin Exam…" He sighed deeply. "But afterwards?" he asked hopefully.

"Yeah, definitely, it'll give me some time to think about how I should approach this. May be I'll visit him before we go," he promised before leaving through the window, Hitsuka's thanks following him.

When the man had disappeared from his view, Hitsuka sighed and cupped his hands briefly. Slowly, a perfect sphere of energy swirling rapidly came into view, its high pitched screech filled the room. With a clap, he allowed his chakra to disperse and bowed his head in a silent apology to Naruto.

Next to turn up was Kakashi, greeting him with his usual: "Yo!"

Hitsuka frowned. "Why is it that nobody uses the door anymore?" he asked no one in particular while moving towards the kitchen to make tea. "So what are you here for?" he asked with a deadpanned expression.

"Can't a teacher visit a student purely because he wanted to?" Kakashi said, his eye curled into a crescent.

The boy returned the smile. "With you? No."

"Haha, you're probably right," the man said, scratching the tip of his nose. "I'm here to tell you that I've found a teacher for your training."

Hitsuka looked surprised. "Are you taking Sasuke? I thought he's going to be with his Uchiha tutors?" he asked neutrally, hiding his disappointment and slight jealousy. 'I thought I will be able to get Kakashi-sensei's help…'

"Well, he came to me the other day and asked me formally if I can teach him Raikiri. I didn't have a problem with that so…"

Hitsuka nodded and politely declined to have Ebisu as his trainer, saying that he should be fine. Kakashi downed his tea and ruffled up the boy's hair before he left, apologising again. Left alone, the remaining occupant of the apartment sighed heavily and thumped his forehead on the table, repeatedly.

Then an idea struck him with its figurative pointy bits hard enough for him to jerk up. Eyes widening as their owner wondered profoundly as to why he didn't think of it before. Still bleeding from the small puncture wounds made by his idea, he quickly flew out of the door, grabbing his wallet along the way.

Half an hour later, he was back with several packages and a large smile. Scribbling a note – which he left on the dining table – he stuffed all that he needed into a backpack and was out again. Poking his head around Hokage's office door at the HQ, he said politely, "I am going off to train alone. I'll be back for the Chuunin Exam, so don't worry about me." Then he was gone once more.

The Sandaime blinked, the ink dripping off his calligraphy brush and onto the documents he was drafting. "What the…" he muttered, shocked at the speed which the message was delivered. "Wait! I didn't give my consent! Especially with what had happened couple of days ago!"

With his steps light and free of any burden, he entered the Konoha Forest yet again. This time he did so without looking back.

A month had quickly gone by and so very soon it was the main part of the Chuunin Exam. The large doors of Konohagakure's main gate were thrown wide open as guests from various parts of the world filed in neatly. The Sandaime watched from his place on the top of the Konoha HQ, his expression solemn. "Finally…" he murmured, his voice tightly guarded even though he was alone with his trusted bodyguards.

_In the Konoha Forest_

Neji looked up through the foliage and smiled, thankful for the sun on this important day. This serene scene was slightly offset by the ring of weapons that littered messily around him. "Thanks for the warm up, Tenten," he said to the panting girl.

"You are gonna win this today, aren't you!" Tenten grinned widely, giving him a thumbs-up.

The lavender-eyed boy laughed and returned the gesture. "We have spent too much time around Gai-sensei and Lee," he said and both genin shuddered as an imagination of them wearing the 'uniform' popped into their minds.

"Yeah… I don't need that image…"

_At the Haruno household_

"Okaa-san, I am off!"

"Sakura-chan! Don't say something that sounds like offing yourself!"

The pinked-haired girl face-palmed, wondering how her mother could so superstitious over something so little. "I'll be fine, okaa-san! Stop fretting so much!" she replied though she still grabbed a handful of the salt offered by the woman. "I am a kunoichi so don't baby me so much."

The older woman gave an apologetic smile, still looking worried. "Come on, our girl said she will be fine then she will be," her husband reassured her, placing a hand on the fussing woman's shoulder. The man, who had given Sakura's hair, grinned and encouraged his daughter, "Have a good time today, Sakura. Go and beat the crap out of Nara's boy."

"Of course I will! But it's not because you have lost that bet to Nara-san!" Sakura huffed, though her tone was playful. "You guys will come and watch, right?"

"We will be there."

"Then, ittekimasu!"

"Itterasshai!"

_At the hotel_

"Baki-san, we still think this is a horrible plan! Not only will we be breaking the Alliance that took so much sacrifice, we will be declaring war on Konohagakure!"

The man frowned at the defiant girl who had spoken up, his lips pointing unhappily downwards. "This is a direct order from Kazekage-sama. You will do as he said or you are traitors to the village."

The three siblings flinched and glared at the man hatefully. "So we will attack Konoha who had been nothing but kind to us even before the Alliance just because we are running out of funds? Surely we can just negotiate with the Minister!" Kankurou argued, having had done his study.

"A war now will just weaken everything we had built up," Gaara put in, supporting his siblings.

"You will do as you are ordered to do. You are shinobi, tools of war," Baki shouted, beginning to lose his composure. "This is Kazekage-sama's will!"

Gaara grinded his teeth. "Fine!" he spat out before teleporting him and his siblings out of the room.

Baki sighed and palmed his face. And, as if he had taken off a mask with that action, his face showed an expression of fear and worry. "Kazekage-sama… why…?"

"Gaara-chan, are we-" Temari began as they travelled across the rooftops, but was cut off by the boy.

"We'll get Yashamaru first, then we'll talk."

"Right!"

_At the Hyuuga Mansion_

Hinata leaned forward, touching her forehead to her fingers as she bowed deeply in respect. "Thank you, otou-sama, for your care and guidance up until now," she said, her voice confident and without a stutter. "I seek your blessings."

Hiashi nodded his head. "Raise your head, my daughter," he said imperiously, looking into Hinata's eyes when she did. "Hinata, you have done well in your trainings and I know you will reach great heights. Make your family proud but most of all," he discreetly swallowed thickly, "make yourself proud!"

"Yes, otou-sama! I will," the girl replied, bowing her head again. "I will take my leave now."

Once the girl had left the room, Iyo came in with a soft smile on her lips. "That was nice," she praised, sitting down next to her husband.

"Iyo!" Hiashi cried, throwing himself into the woman's lap who was not surprised by this at all. Despite what the public believed, Hiashi was not always the strict and unsympathetic man he appeared to be. Privately, he was just as… clingy as any clingy man. "That conversation sounded too much like the one I'll say when I am about to give her away!" he said, his voice muffled as he buried his face into the kimono.

"Ara, then it was a good practice for you then," Iyo replied cheerfully. "Hinata's old enough to start considering a boyfriend."

"Boyfriend! I am not letting some evil, slimy cretin get close to my Hinata! If he so much as touch her, I will freaking neuter him!"

The kind mother rolled her eyes. "You will not say the same thing when Hanabi-chan has reached that age," she said with a resigned sigh. "You will be so proud of him for getting a girlfriend at such a young age."

"Of course I will be, he's my son!" At his wife's raised eyebrow he sighed as well. "Fine… Just… as long as she brings _him _home and introduces _him_ to me," he said begrudgingly though he did not voice his thoughts. 'And I will so Kaiten him in the face!'

"Oh, so Hitsuka-kun and Naruto-kun will be fine."

Widening his eyes, Hiashi developed a tick under his left eye as his nostrils flared. "No… No way… There's no way that Hitsuka will- Naruto is-," he stuttered, his mind conjuring up multiple scenarios and possibilities. "Not Hitsuka… But Naruto? Wait, Hitsuka can if he-"

Iyo merely sighed as her husband shrank into a corner while muttering darkly to himself. "I am going to see if Hanabi-chan is ready, and when he is, we will be leaving."

That was one of the changes that had shocked Hitsuka when it happened. Instead of a girl Hanabi, this dimension had a boy Hanabi. Same age, same birthday, same everything else other than the gender. Hitsuka even checked when he was by helping to change the baby's diaper. Oh, the sacrifice. He didn't know if it was just Hiashi's Y chromosome was stronger this time round, or some other factors that he had managed to change by just being here.

The only thing he had to consider was whether Hinata was still the heiress with a younger brother instead of a sister. If the Hyuuga Clan had followed the old tradition of many other clans, perhaps the younger male would succeed and become the heir instead. Unsure as to what was to happen and how it would affect things, Hitsuka had decided to leave it be and took a wait-and-watch approach.

_At the apartment_

"Zabuza-san, we'll be leaving now," Haku said as his hands checked his equipments and weapons all over his body. "Take care on your mission."

"Yeah! Don't get AIDS or something when you kill those people," Naruto agreed, his grin suggested that he was joking though his eyes were serious. He had just been taught about the diseases that could be transmitted by bodily fluids the other day by Haku.

Zabuza rolled his eyes and bonked the mischievous boy on the head. "I just wish I can come and watch…" he said sadly. "And then I'll be able to see gaki again."

"Wow, I didn't know that you actually missed him," Haku replied with a smile. "Just come back as soon as you can then, hopefully you'll be able to watch me fight in the second round."

"Wait! Are you suggesting that Hitsuka's gonna lose to you!" Naruto shouted, jumping onto the taller boy's back. "He'll win! Though I wish you will win too… But no, err… wait… what?"

The man shook his head in slight wonder. "Don't stress yourself," he muttered.

The trio laughed as they left the apartment, hoping to see their good friend after being apart for a whole month.

_On the training grounds_

"If I am late it's all your fault, Kakashi-sensei!" Sasuke growled at the man who was still rolling up his sleeping bag. "For a shinobi you sleep like a log."

Kakashi just gave him that infuriating one-eyed smile of his. While still furious, Sasuke got some satisfaction from hearing the _squish_ and _gurgle_ made by the wet sleeping bag. Though he kind of wished that the man had remained in it when he had upturned the bucket of water.

"Don't worry, they'll understand," Kakashi drawled, sticking his foot into the bag to squish as much water out as possible. "After all, it's me we are talking about."

"I don't want to get a reputation like yours!"

_At Nara's household_

"Shikamaru! Have you got everything you need! Are you ready to go?"

The brunet sighed as he pulled his hair into his trademark pineapple-styled ponytail. "Yeah, yeah…" he replied tiredly.

"Once is enough!" his mother, Yoshino, snapped angrily, annoyed by her son's lack of motivation on an important day such as today. "Hurry up and finish your breakfast!"

Grimacing, the boy leaned forward and whispered to the other male occupant of the table. "Dad, why did you ever marry such a strict woman?"

Shikaru carefully thought out his answer before replying, knowing that his wife, despite being busy in the kitchen, was well within hearing distance, "Your mother is a beautiful, selfless woman. Her strictness is purely for your own good." He paused, looking at his son. "What's that look for?"

Grimacing, the boy muttered softly and took off before his mum's kunai could harm him ahead of his part in the final Chuunin Exam. He paused in mid-leap. 'Perhaps that's not such a bad idea…'

"Who are you calling a meddling old witch!"

That scream quickly changed his mind.

_At the arena for the final exam_

'Where is he! Why must he always be late for important stuffs like this!' Naruto growled lightly, his head swivelling like a spin top.

Seeing this, both Sasuke and Haku sighed quietly in defeat, though their expressions were still suitably serious for the occasion. Nevertheless, similar thoughts were running through their head.

With a frown, Sakura discreetly pinched the fidgeting boy next to her, eliciting a yelp, and whispered, "Stop looking like a fool! We are standing before important guests as the chuunin wannabes of the next generation!"

"But Hitsuka!" he hissed back, ignoring the dark looks that Gemma was shooting at the pair.

"He will be here. Now shush!"

The small group down in the arena fell silent, waiting for the final honoured guest to arrive. They all looked expectantly up at where the best seats were but were disappointed to see only one dried up prune up there.

This particular dried up fruit was frowning at the one empty spot below him. 'Hitsuka… I hope you are not getting yourself too deep in this mess,' he thought worryingly. 'I don't think I will be able to be there to pull you out…'

Sensing a presence approaching him, he turned with a readied smile. "Welcome, welcome!" he said loudly. "You must be tired from you journey."

The masked kage inclined his head ever so slightly. "Not at all. Good thing the exam is held here this time. While you are still young, the trip may be too much for you, Hokage-sama," he replied and grinned ferociously, hidden from others' view. "May be its time you decide on your protégée…?"

The Third laughed, those that are close to him could tell it was a hollow one. "Please don't treat me like am old man. I intent to do this for another five years!"

He then glanced around with only his eyes, forcing himself to project an atmosphere of calmness as he continued the anxious wait for his young friend. Finally, he had to resign to the fact that he simply could not wait any longer as all the important guests had already seated and their whispers had already reached his ear. Standing up, he welcomed them all, acknowledged his guests, talked about the genin and the villages' futures, relating that to the histories, and finally, when Naruto was just about to fall asleep, he had reached to the point where he had to start the exam.

Thinking fast, he grabbed the bowl of peanuts by his chair and held it high for all to see. "Now, I will announce the first pair of fighters!" he boomed authoritatively and a confused mutter rose briefly from the crowd, even his honour guest beside him looked surprised underneath his face cloth. Fishing out a nut, his hold on it firm as the salt grains had help, he pretended to read off it, "Uzumaki Naruto versus Hyuuga Neji!"

The scattering claps grew in strength and number as those that were not called left the arena without any hesitation, leaving the two combatants behind. They all knew what the Hokage was doing and were thankful. Besides, for the two fighting genin, up against each other now or later did not matter as they were prepared at all times.

Surprising the others, Naruto bowed along with Neji in the direction of the Hokage then the referee Gemma. Both Kakashi and Sakura had their eyes popped wide as they stared and the girl spluttered, "How? Since when!"

It was all thanks to Hitsuka who had forced the blond child to listen to an hour of lecture on manners and proper procedures during a formal occasion. One such as a Chuunin Exam.

Gemma felt his toothpick slipping from his lips due to his slackened jaws and he quickly clamped his teeth around the bit of bamboo. 'No wonder Hayate decided that he would rather do the spy work then this high-paying babysitting…' he realised, a bit too late, and sighed deeply. 'So… Uzumaki and Hyuuga, eh?'

"For that kid to get this far…" Kotetsu muttered though he was not unkind. He had not seen through Naruto's act of being weak and the last fight the boy had was pretty much a joke.

His partner was quick to agree, "Yeah, for him to get here on luck, this is the end of the line. Naruto's opponent is just too tough; there is no way that he could beat the Hyuuga Clan." Many of the ninja within the arena agreed, their voices getting louder and louder and soon reached the centre of the ring where the fighters were.

Neither of the two boys paid attention to the insults or the praises, both were too focused on each other to spare any attention for other minor things. Seeing this, Gemma grinned in anticipation, now finally understood why he had taken this job in the first place. "Now the first fight!" he yelled, raising his arms and brought them down in a flashy fashion. "BEGIN!"

The fight began with a ground trembling clash between the two, each going all out from the very start. Having had pretty much grown up with each other, they knew what the other was weak and strong at, thus there was no need for the polite prologue that most fights favoured.

Somersaulting through the air, Naruto quickly shot towards his opponent once he had found his footing, knowing that speed was his best offense at the moment. As long he was fast enough, Neji would not be able to respond with his Juuken. Having had already anticipated this, Neji was of course ready for the blond genin. Barely twisting out of the way before he was hit, Naruto had to breathe a sigh of relief. While he was used to the effects of being hit by the Hyuuga Clan's taijutsu, it didn't mean he would just hand over a huge advantage to his opponent on a silver plate. Having Father to open up his chakra holes was like cheating and would leave him with aching joints for days after.

Faltering slightly as he thought, his opponent grew restless. "If you aren't coming, then don't mind if I do!" Neji said as he gently lowered his body to begin his taijutsu. "Hakke Rokujuu Yonshou."

Eyes widening at the flurry of hands coming towards him, Naruto managed to muttered, "Holy crap!" before they hit him. Grinding his teeth, he twisted his body as he flew across the clearing so that he would land on his front instead of the back of his head.

"Is this the end?" Kotetsu wondered out loud even though he had already decided the outcome. 'It's quite impressive he had managed to last this long, the boy should be quite happy with this already.'

Gemma craned his neck, trying to determine whether it was time for him to call out the result when the fallen genin jumped up. "Dammit! That still hurts like hell! Man!" he complained loudly, a voice at the back of his head that sounded like Hitsuka started to chide him for his use of language. "I still need more practice!"

Neji frowned, staring at his trembling hands. "What did you just do," he questioned, his voice demanding though was not harsh – merely frustrated with curiosity.

'Yeah, what did you do!' all the Hyuuga up in the audience wondered, confused at how Naruto was still so agile despite having all his chakra holes closed with Hakke Rokujuu Yonshou. Those that did not know the full extent of Hyuuga's ability were merely confused by the new kind of tension that arose in the area.

The blond child grinned. "I had known you since we were kids and had been your practice dummy for at least six years. You would think that I have had came up with something by now. Though…" he rubbed his arm, "I haven't perfected it yet."

'But how!' the clan members screamed voicelessly.

Naruto was not about to tell the world what he had achieved where so many had failed. Like he said, being Neji and Hinata's practice partner, he was given the chance to study their Clan taijutsu from the best seat possible. What he had discovered was that the order in which the Hakke Rokujuu Yonshou was dished out never changed. Knowing the exactly where it was going to hurt next was a great motivation for him to find a way to get around it.

That was when he thought of Kaiten. If he could release chakra from the chakra hole that would be hit, may be that could stop the hole from being sealed. But he was not Neji thus he could not just suddenly control his chakra so fluently over night.

Then he remembered his Rasengan or, at the time, the basic of Rasengan. Thus he had begun training so his speed could match and exceed that of the Hyuuga genius, knowing it was essential for his plan to work. When he was sure he could achieve it, he started to practice with discs of chakra in his hand. In the beginning, the discs would often wobble and disperse in a burst of energy as his concentration wavered. But soon he had found the trick and was finally able to put this defence into use, surprising all the Hyuuga within the arena, a fact he was ecstatic about. Hopefully he could completely defend himself against the Hakke with this new technique he had come up with in the future.

"My turn now!" Making the familiar hand seal, multiple Naruto clones came into existence and all rushed towards their opponent. Easily fending them off with the help of his Byakugan, the brunet smirked lightly to himself before leaping over the hands that came grabbing at his ankles.

'No one's going to catch me by surprise from underneath again!' he thought, his jaw throbbed slightly with phantom pain and a girl from the audience pumped her fist.

But Naruto wasn't bluffing when he said he had prepared to fight a Hyuuga. Digging and gripping the ground with his toes and chakra, he pushed until this opposing force had exceeded that of the chakra's hold, and he shot off. Neji didn't even have the time to blink when the blond's fist was already centimetres from his face.

Naruto's triumphant grin quickly dropped off when his limb could not go forward any further. 'Ah… Of course… There's the Kaiten,' he thought as his body flew backwards, wondering how it was that he had managed to forget about that particular destructive skill. "But, that doesn't mean I'm gonna give up!" he yelled and jumped straight back in.

After several attempts at just rushing in, the blond child sighed deeply. "I didn't think I would need to use this now," he muttered with pout and another Naruto appeared in a puff of smoke. Those of the older generation gasped loudly as the duo created something that most of them had not seen in years. "Rasengan!"

Surprised by this new ability that Naruto had, Neji nevertheless was able to quickly determine the nature of the jutsu. 'This is dangerous,' he recognized, his well honed instincts pulling at his every fibre to get away. 'But I cannot run! I must stand my ground. If I just…!' He frowned in concentration, having had made up his mind and determined not to back down.

Seeing this, Naruto grinned. "I am coming, Neji-nii-san!" he yelled, rushing across the clearing, the Rasengan in his hand whistling sharply.

The small ball of energy collided with the bigger one, creating such a high-pitched screech that caused many to cringe. Jiraiya leaned forward ever so slightly, showing just how worried he was as he had been trained to remain unemotional in such formal gathering. Despite the absolute defence of Kaiten, one wrong move and this would no longer be just a mere spar between two genin.

But his worries were unfounded as Hyuuga Neji was not called a child genius for nothing. Fully utilising his flexible wrists and his fantastic chakra control, like the water that his family jutsu had often been likened to, he was able to drew and deflate small amount of power of the spinning ball each time he turned for his Kaiten. Turning his wrists to meet the different directions of the chakra flow and chipping away at the ferocious power, he succeeded in minimising the damages of the attack and was able to respond with one of his own when Rasengan was reduced to nothing.

Wincing when he pumped his fists, Neji realised his hands were skinned raw from when he did not fully coat them with chakra. 'Just like a paper cut, this is going to hurt like hell,' he thought with a grimace though he found comfort in the fact that Naruto would be in same kind of pain by the look on his face.

Having had finally skidded to a stop, Naruto groaned loudly in both pain and shame, wondering just how his ultimate attack had so quickly failed on its debut. Not giving up, he swiftly created another and was back in action, knowing his chakra reserve was enough to keep him going for more. But with each attempt ended in failure, he knew he could not keep this up as winning just because the other had dropped in chakra exhaustion was not honourable. And that was only if Neji had continued to remain defensive.

Face screwed up in concentration, his conscious wondered in his mind for an inspiration that would help him. And suddenly, something that Hitsuka had once showed him came to mind and that gave him an idea.

Crossing his fingers once again, he allowed clones of himself to appear and hid him. Neji wrinkled his nose at this repetitive attack and wondered if his opponent was merely trying to tire him out. 'But I can go on for a while longer,' he thought as he destroyed the Naruto that came at him, confident that despite him constantly using Kaiten, he had not wasted any chakra.

That was when his Byakugan caught something flashing above him. Focusing his entire attention on the top, he was in no doubt that he could stop this Rasengan just like the ones before. The loud crash drowned out the war cries from both boys.

Using the same method as before, Neji was successful in holding off Naruto but suddenly, surprisingly, his knees buckled underneath him. Shocked, the brunet found himself unable to hold up the weight that was above him even though he had carried far heavier things for training.

Grinning widely, Naruto intensified his weakened jutsu as he had plenty of chakra left in him. The spinning ball that was Kaiten slowly grinded to a stop, revealing Neji falling to his knees, focusing all of his chakra in his palms above his head. Seizing this chance, the blond child twisted his body in a surprisingly agile fashion and lashed out with his feet.

Far too focused on the more dangerous attack, he wasn't able to react fast enough to protect himself from the taijutsu. Landing heavily, he didn't even have the time to spit out the blood before a body slammed itself upon him.

Fists flew everywhere, legs tripping another and kicking up dust, it was a moment of confusion before anyone could be certain of an outcome. Trapping his opponent's legs with his own, the winner held a kunai to the loser's neck.

Staring into each other's eyes, the two boys' chests heaved from their bout, adrenaline still rushing. Naruto gulped lightly, sweat running down his neck. "Neji-nii-san…"

"And… Uzumaki Naruto is the winner!" Gemma announced, a grin on his face.

The stunned audience remained silent, the even beneath them moving too fast for their thoughts to catch up. How did he do it? How did the dead last of this batch of genin rookies managed to best one of the prestige clan's ultimate jutsu? It just seemed impossible for that to happen!

A series of sharp claps echoed throughout the arena, jolting people awake. Both boys quickly glanced up and saw a flash of that distinctive white hair which allowed them to breathe a sigh of relief. Like an avalanche, the now excited crowd clapped enthusiastically, yelling out praises to the two fighters for the excellent fight.

"That was great!"

"You did well!"

"Well done, shrimp!"

"Come on, Neji-nii-san!" Naruto yelled, pulling up the bone-tired boy up, him himself still full of energy. "We've got one dear friend to go after with our fists!"

_About two hours earlier_

Gaara started coldly at the gaggle of ninja before him, his anger and disgust obvious on his face. His nostrils flared when he smelt the fear from his fellow villagers.

"Ga-Gaara-sama, we cannot stop now," the leader of this team spoke thickly, his voice trembling as he averted his eyes. "We ha-ha-ha…" He stopped and took a breath to let it out slowly and started again, "We have already breached the Alliance by being here without a permit. They would never believe us again!"

The boy fumed, furious that he could not come up with a comeback. He hated his father for ordering this war, he hated that he was part of a greater plan, but most of all, he hated his inability to stop this. "I will make them listen to me," he snapped, his voice full of confidence he did not feel. "I-I have a source and I will take full responsibility."

"But Gaara-sama, that's suicidal!"

With a start, the young shinobi suddenly realised that these Suna-nin were not fearing for their own lives as he had prejudicially came to believe. But it was his. He had always thought the loyalty and lack of objection against his decisions and leadership from the ninja were due to their fear of him. But now he finally knew that Hitsuka had spoken the truth – the people of Suna had began to accept him as someone more than the ultimate weapon, the monster. With that realization, he knew he could not abandon his people like the three siblings had originally planned to if the negotiation had failed – he had to stand by them.

But he did not wish to declare war on one of the strongest village of all time, especially since he knew he could not bear the disappointment of one of her residents.

Someone clapped.

The small group of Suna-nin swivelled to face the source of the interruption with their weapons plainly in sight. So absorbed they were in their tense discussion they had failed to detect the extra presence. Gaara noted who it was and believed that they probably couldn't even if they were alert. For, facing them – though his posture was slack and easy – was a masked anbu in his full uniform. 'Though,' the red-headed boy thought, 'what's up with the unusual mask? All human-like and white?'

"How admirable," the anbu praised sincerely, his voice deep, suggesting a gender. He motioned the steadily decreasing distance between the leader and his followers. "So loyal."

"Who are you!" the red head snapped, on edge as he was uncertain how much the stranger had heard. He was ashamed to admit it but he was too afraid to ask what the anbu would do now. Reluctantly, he realised he might need to silence the ninja to ensure his own villagers' safety. His sand wavered unsteadily in response to his uncertainty.

The Konoha-nin tilted his head, a smile in his voice as he spoke but did not answer, "I can help you. After all, your words will have more weight if you have a Konoha anbu backing them up." The Suna-nin glanced suspiciously at him but he would think less of them if they did not, even if it would mean his work would be easier.

"Why should we trust you!"

He considered this. "Well, for one, I know you honestly don't want to declare war on Konoha and hopefully all the other hidden Suna-nin would think the same. Two, your main advantage, the element of surprise, is gone as Hokage-sama had known about this invasion and had prepared for it," he replied, flicking a finger up for each point, noting in slight amusement the flinch from the others each time he did so.

Gaara looked crumpled for a moment but quickly composed himself again, determined to stand his ground as the foreigner continued:

"Oh yeah, three, it wasn't the Kazekage-sama that had given the order. It was an impersonator that did."

The anbu watched, his emotions hidden by his white mask. First across the red-head's face was confusion, then concern, followed by denial, and lastly, an erupting anger.

"I don't believe you," Gaara said coldly, sand by his feet starting to swirl gently around him, more confident now. "All we have are your words, claiming Konoha's foreknowledge of Suna's plans and would-be downfall. Then you assured us your involvement is the key to our safety. These are not facts that we can trust blindly. These are just tales without the 'backup' you spoke so highly of."

"Yuki Hitsuka had sent me."

The sand dropped at this and the Suna-nin began to mutter amongst themselves as their leader stared incredulously. "Proof," he finally said, "I need proof."

Holding his hand up – though that gesture did not help the others to relax as all of them knew that he was fast enough to do harm – he stepped in close, ignoring the sand that had started drifting threatening around him. "He said, 'Has your emotional scars healed yet?'" he whispered, lifting his mask so that his lips were next to Gaara's ear. "And that it was not nice to tell Temari-san where Kankurou-san hid his, well, sex education magazines," he breathed and the ear flinched.

Blushing lightly, Gaara gestured to the other that it was all okay and the ninja backed off. "I believe you. No one but him would know about… those things," he said, pushing the other back with a hand while swearing that the anbu was grinning under his mask. "Ho-How can you help us?"

"I will just need you to convince all the other Suna-nin that it was not a good idea to invade Konoha and just standby." He then pointed at himself. "And I will report back to Hokage-sama about your decision and tell him that the Gaara of Suna in the final exam is just a Bunshin made out of sand."

With that said, the anbu disappeared in a swirl of wind, leaving a small sand tornado behind him. Frowning at how his sand was acting, he ordered the grains back into order while wondered at their behaviour. While he could control huge amount of sand, it had been known to those close to him that the sand that composed his gourd was always the same. Thus, he believed, over the year each grain had developed some sort of personality of its own. Which was why he was confused by how friendly his weapon was to the strange anbu in the end.

Appearing in a secluded area, the anbu cancelled the genjutsu on himself and shrank about a head. Taking his mask off, Hitsuka proceeded to put on his next disguise. "I never knew that my anbu uniform would come in handy for this situation," he muttered quietly while quickly stripping so he could put on the standard jounin outfit. "And that I will be wearing the jounin vest before I passed my Chuunin Exam…"

Pulling out his disguise kit from its hidden place, he deftly put on the necessary items onto his face so that he now had higher cheek bones, dark brown eyes, slightly saggy skin, a few wrinkles, and a broad, clean-shaven chin. Putting on some final touches, he combed his short sand and pepper hair back before taking off one of his chakra sealing earrings. Taking a deep breath, he suppressed the surge of energy that flooded his system, tuning it to a different frequency. This was a trick that he had learnt years ago that would allow his chakra signature became almost unrecognisable, thus enabling him to perform his duty as an anbu without anyone making a link between the faceless anbu and the newly promoted genin.

All of these troubles would be worth it. He definitely did not want to be recognised by that man.

Taking a deep breath to steel his nerves, he then appeared in the shadows behind the Hokage, respectfully keeping his head bowed. "Hokage-sama," he said quietly, his voice deep, "I have found him."

Recognising the chakra signature as that of Hitsuka's disguise, the old man mentally breathed a sigh of relief before acknowledging the jounin, "Then I am to believe he is coming."

"I had made sure of that. He has no excuse now that he had finished with his business."

Understanding the hidden meaning, the great leader nodded his head. "Very well. You may go."

With a bow, the man teleported away, resisting the temptation to glance over at the Kazekage's seat. While he knew that his presence did not elicit any attention from the impersonator, the fine hairs on the back of his neck were still standing on their ends. He truly, honestly, hated himself for being so cowardly but if he was not doing so, all of his sacrifices would be wasted.

Shaking his head to clear it, he hurried to return back to his normal self. After all, he still had one exam that he was very late in going to.

_Now, at the fighting arena_

"Hitsuka! Why are you-"

A hand cut off Naruto's loud cry, reducing it to a series of muffle grunts. The white-haired boy smiled at Sasuke, thanking him silently for thinking so far ahead. "Sorry about that, guys," he apologised, his voice sincere. "I was caught up in something I can't get out of. But that's solved so it's all fine now!"

Shrugging off his buddy's hand along with all his complaints, the blond child moved to hug the other. After all, they had not seen each other for a month. "I missed you!" he cried, then he pulled back in shock. "Hitsuka! What happened to your hair!"

Fingering the short tuft of hair at the base of his neck, the boy shrugged. "A change of pace," he replied, his expression easy.

Elbowing him, Sakura asked sympathetically, "Aww… Who was it that broke your heart? Hmm? Was it Hinata-chan? Tenten-chan? Or, could it be," she gasped, "Haku-san!"

"Please, stop! I think I am going to hurl…" Sasuke pleaded, knowing his name could soon come up in the list.

Hitsuka laughed along with the others though no one had noticed that it was slightly hollow and disheartened. Once the attention was off, he grimaced lightly, once again wondering how his small world was turned upside down, rained on, rolled over by the Akimichi family, flamed grilled by Sasuke, and Raikiri-ed in its backside in such a short time.

_A couple of days into the training break_

Hitsuka wasn't sure how the man had found him – he could hide from the Hokage, for goodness sake! Nevertheless, he should have never allowed himself to be caught so unaware. And now he had to bear the consequences and face the man all by himself.

Damn you, Orochimaru and your stupid blood lust.

The man watched with amusement as the boy struggled internally for control despite being caught off guarded. But he was impressed by the improvement the genin had shown since the last time they had met, still able to remain standing and defending even with Orochimaru's undivided attention on him. "Are you… _fighting_ me?" he mused, finding the thought ridiculous and funny,

Swallowing what little moisture that was left in his mouth, Hitsuka fought his instinct of fright-fight-flight and managed to rasp out, "What do you want with me?"

To tell the truth, Hitsuka could not understand what was going through the head of this man. It was true that he was fairly powerful and smart for his physical age, held the secrets to many's future, on good terms with some of the most powerful people in the world, and, let's not forget, had the Curse Seal. But the fact that Orochimaru knew nothing of these, except for his power and the bite mark, was not lost upon the boy. So what did he want? He had little to offer in terms of the man's ambitions.

"What do you know of your parentage?" the snake-liked man asked flippantly. He leaned against on one of the boulders in the clearing, his body language suggesting he was not here to fight. "Well, do you?" he prompted when the silence stretched.

Hitsuka blanked his face, the act easily achieved. "I do not see how that concerns you," he stated coldly, calming his heard down though he could still hear the beat in his ears.

His reply was laughter.

"This is just so ironic," Orochimaru chuckled, his voice so light and playful that it sent a shiver down the boy's spine. "So ironic," he repeated. Then, he was in Hitsuka's face, easily plucking the hands with weapons out from the air as they sped towards his heart and neck. "Good reflex," the man praised good naturally though the trapped genin did not appreciate it, only glared back defiantly.

But that was quickly shattered by the man's next comment.

"You've got your mother's eyes."

Widening the said eyes, the boy did not know how he should react. "You knew… my birth mother?" He damned himself for allowing his curiosity to win and his voice to tremble.

"Knew her?" Orochimaru suddenly doubled over with laughter, arrogant enough to not care about guarding himself. "It was more than that," he finally said, his eyes filled with malicious mirth. "She was one of the many women that had bore my children."

Hitsuka's mind froze, his heart in his throat, choking off the barrage of questions that was filing him. No! There was no way he could be… No way…

"I thought all of them had died, my final five test subjects," the man continued, cupping the boy's chin and was delighted by the twisted look on the small face. "They had all reacted badly to have another soul inserted into them." He gently brushed his thumb on the cheek. "But one survived… I guess you would with your Kekkei Genkai… My son, and Kyuubi's son."

While part of Hitsuka was tempted to knock himself out to get away from reality, the more rational side was calculating the probabilities of several possibilities. He soon came to one came to one conclusion he was the son of Kyuubi and Orochimaru. He was certain he was not a schizophrenic and did not have souls in one body (not counting Shion). Therefore, if what the man claimed was true, he had Kyuubi's son's soul and Orochimaru's son's body.

That was so screw up!

But it would explain why he was able to form a mental link with Naruto that easily when all of his research told him it was not possible. And why his pupils were now split and predator-like. Why he could manipulate his chakra in his own world, no, his brother's world. And that dream…

"How… can you be so sure?" he asked softly, sagging against the boulder behind him and did not flinch away when Orochimaru reached out to support him.

With his arms around the boy who was undoubtedly his son, Orochimaru smirked against the trembling ear. "I collected a sample of your blood from out last encounter and had Kabuto do some tests on it. Besides, the liquid gold of your eyes… only the Ki Clan has them, like your mother."

He suddenly slammed the limp form harshly against the rock and warned dangerously, "But do not think too highly of yourself. If you are not a successful experiment I would have never taken so much interest in you!" He grinned predatorily, baring fangs. "You are mine… so is Sasuke-kun!"

This comment seemed to have given life back into the silent boy. Ducking down, he single-handedly grabbed the huge boulder behind him and swung it over his head. If Orochimaru had not jumped back, he would have been crashed by it.

"You killed Obaa-sama and my siblings, caused Otou-sama to destroy Konoha, resulting in the death of many and Yondaime-sama… and Naruto's innocence," Hitsuka growled, his fangs and claws responded to his elevated emotions. "I may be your son, had been you experiment, but the moment you had left me to die, I am no longer yours!" He g at the other man with eyes glowing with anger. "You've taken enough. You shall not harm anyone, anymore!"

Orochimaru glared at the boy who was fighting him. 'How dare he defy me!' he raged yet he knew his son would rather die than willingly go with him. But for his ambition, Hitsuka's Kekkei Genkai was more useful than Sasuke-kun. Thus it was good that he still had a trump card.

"You care deeply for your friends, do you not?"

It was a simple rhetorical question yet it drove a spear of ice into Hitsuka's heart. It pumped painfully around the implications the question had brought. He could have easily given up his life right here, right now, if it had meant that he was taking Orochimaru with him. But he knew that was not possible, especially since he was so shaken.

He had lost. It was not hard to see.

"I'll make a deal with you," Orochimaru continued, pinning the boy's, his son's gold eyes with his own. "I will not touch Sasuke-kun if you come with me."

"You will not touch Konohagakure and any of her people," Hitsuka argued almost automatically, an amazing feat when his mind was still numb.

Surprisingly, the man considered, but when he replied he did not agree, "How about none of your pitiful friends? I know who they are so you cannot fool me." He placed his hands on Hitsuka's shoulders and grinned when he noticed the boy started shaking again. "Do we have a deal?"

Trembling in fear and despair, Hitsuka wondered how things had gone downhill so fast. He then applauded himself when his voice remained steady as he finally spoke:

"We do."

Somewhere far away from home, Itachi gave a non-noticeable start when he heard a sharp _crack_ from his chest. Lifting up the pendant he always wore by its string, a sense of dread filled him when he saw the vertical crack on the black rock. A chip slowly eased itself out and fell forward but the man caught it before it could shatter even more on the ground. With a shudder, he was reminded by the damaged stone in his hand of the snake-like eyes belonging to the power-crazed man that had once held the "Kaze" ring of Akatsuki.

"Hitsuka, what have you done?" Itachi asked the silent gift from his little friend, his heart sinking rapidly.

_Final Chuunin Exam_

"Ne! Ne! Hitsuka did you see how I beat Neji-nii-san! Did you? Did you?"

Naruto's loud voice rang next to his ears, causing the said boy to wince lightly as he had been far too absorbed in his own thoughts to realise that he was there. Berating himself for not focusing, he turned his attention back to the energetic blond that was yanking his arm. "Yes, I did. You and Neji-nii-san both did very well. Either of you could have won," he praised, smiling genuinely. While expected, he was still happy to see how much the child had grown in the time they had spent apart.

Rubbing the head of the boy that was very much his brother in everything but blood, he suddenly froze and gently drew his hand back. 'I… am hurting him…' he thought silently, gripping his fists. 'My Kekkei Genkai is hurting him… Someone I swore I will protect no matter what. How could I…'

Since he had found out who he was son to, he had done his research to confirm that piece of information. Of course he did not just believe Orochimaru blindly, he had done his own tests, having already had the skills required.

But, despite being prepared for the worse, the answer still came with a crippling blow.

There was little wonder now as to why that man would make the deal with him despite his interest in Sasuke.

Unlike his original thought, the reason why he was able to form a mental link with Naruto was not because of his kitsune soul. It was his very own Kekkei Genkai and its very nature was slowing destroying his brother.

'Just wait, Naruto. In just a little while, you will be free… of me…'

"Did you know how I managed to stop Neji-nii-san's Kaiten?" the child piped up, shoving his face into the quiet boy's. "I'll bet you one bowl of ramen that you can't!"

With a soft smile, Hitsuka replied, "You've used the concept of applying pressure on the axis at which a ball is spinning on. With this method, you can force the ball to stop and cave it in with the remaining power." Tilting his head one side, he grinned in that infuriating fashion. "I am right, aren't I?"

Once his audience had managed to fully process his words, his world around him blew up spectacularly.

"NO! How could you have known already! It took me ages to just work that out!"

"I can't believe Kaiten has that kind of weakness!"

"But it's not like anyone can create that type of concentrated energy!"

"Quiet!" Gemma called out, his voice annoyed. "The next match! Yuki Hitsuka and Haku! Come down!"

Surprised at being called so suddenly, Hitsuka started when he was thrown over the railing. Knowing that there was only one person at the genin's area that could possibly do that, he couldn't help but get excited. He had been debating over whether he should go all out in this fight, knowing what was to come. But he also knew that this was perhaps the last chance he could fight Haku on the same ground. Thus, deciding that he should just think of the consequences later, he would not hold back.

Landing smoothly, he waited for the start of the fight patiently.

The same could not be said for Haku. Forcing his breathing to slow down, the boy gently flexed his fingers, warming them up while using this action to calm himself. Watching his partner, he couldn't stop the flash of concern across his face so he quickly dipped his head. While he had only known Hitsuka for a few short months, he had high regards for the boy, even respected him. Thus, when he saw how drastically his friend had changed in such short amount of time, he was even more worried. And he blamed that man. Blaming him for toying with his friend and for making him want to hold back in this fight.

Seeing this slight marring of the brows and how his friend had averted his head, Hitsuka had a slight idea as to what was going through Haku's mind. Sighing softly, he straightened his back and waited for the signal.

Then he appeared behind Haku, bringing his hands gently into the boy's view as he landed softly.

Startled by this, Haku instinctively lashed out and ducked out of the deathly embrace. Holding a hand to the bleeding wound on his neck, he quickly stemmed the blood flow and healed the wound, ignoring the one that was on his cheek. Staring in astonishment, Hitsuka's message was relayed and understood. A smile began to grow on the brunet's face as any doubts he had faded away.

"Beat that brat up, Haku! I will not allow you to lose to him!"

A shout rang out in the quiet arena and many turned to look for the source, their hearts beating wildly from the surprise. A few grumbled lowly under their breaths, complaining how this fight that was more like a deadly dance was now ruined by the man in bandages.

Grinning widely now, Haku momentarily dipped his head, this time an apology, and began his Kekkei Genkai. Knowing that there was no way that he could avoid this or stop Haku, Hitsuka merely stood there, preparing himself. He didn't have to wait for long.

Columns of water rose and flattened into panels of glass, surrounding the two fighters. As they solidified, Hitsuka could see his own breath and he began to burn more energy to keep himself warm and flexible. He had immediately noticed that something was different.

"This Makyou Hyoushou is smaller," he observed quietly and his opponent nodded.

"This way I can move faster around you," Haku replied, slowing putting his body into the mirror in front of him. And then his voice echoed around Hitsuka, "So there won't be any chance for you to catch me like last time!"

For the next minute or so, Hitsuka was far too busy to defend himself to think about anything else. The pain was nothing, merely scratches. It was the number of the wounds and the amount of blood he was losing. He was safe for now, his chakra was already healing him. But he could not keep this up as Haku did not have to keep to shallow wounds and could go for something more fatal. After all, they were going all out.

Slamming himself against one of the mirrors – more or less aided by Hauk – he was gifted with a moment of respite. Haku was right, the smaller mirror prison was allowing him to travel faster. 'But,' he thought as he wiped his eyes free of blood, 'much more predictable.'

Since Haku's jutsu was based on the reflective nature of his mirrors, with the number of mirrors decreased, the paths that Haku could travel in were reduced as well. As long as Hitsuka could work out the angle of incidence for each mirror, in theory, he should be able to predict where his opponent was going next.

But, that was just in theory.

Hitsuka found out the hard way that Haku's jutsu _did not_ base on the reflective nature of mirrors.

He could travel through them.

Hitsuka mentally whacked himself – physically he was being pummelled – as he recalled how Haku had demonstrated that several times before. 'I should have never underestimated Haku's ability to fool others…' he thought grimly as he was once again pushed to lean against a mirror, pressing few senbon deeper into his body. Now that he knew that simply blocking a mirror did not mean that Haku could not appear from that mirror, he had to act fast.

Clasping his hands with a sharp _crack_, the white-haired boy untangled his fingers and reached back to touch the mirror. It wasn't until much later did Haku realised that was a hand seal.

Out from the corner of his eyes, the Hokage noticed how the Kazekage suddenly straightened his back and leaned forwards slightly.

The mirror that Hitsuka was leaning on disappeared.

Widening his eyes in surprise, Haku quickly acted to fill that gap by moving another mirror. But he was not fast enough – Hitsuka had escaped the prison of his ultimate jutsu.

Knowing asking useless questions would just distract him, the brunet had decided to do something that not even Zabuza had seen before. His mirrors began to move, spreading out until they were all facing Hitsuka again. "Hitsuka… You will be the first to see this," he said quietly as he slowly lifted up his hands in his mirror, his reflections all followed.

Grinning widely, Hitsuka gave a small bow. "Then I am honoured!"

Smiling in reply, Haku started his attack by moving his arms in a manner that reminded Hitsuka of a conductor of an orchestra. "Here we go…!" The panels of ice flowed smoothly into a complicated dance, swirling around their target, travelling faster and faster until they were almost just a blur to Hitsuka. Eyes shifting constantly to get the whole picture, the white haired boy was on high alert and had almost instantly noticed what Haku was doing with his fingers. But that was not enough to warn him of what was about to happen.

The mirrors nearest to him suddenly sprouted spikes of ices, piercing his flesh. Forcing himself away, he landed heavily on the ground with a grunt. Frowning at the new weapons, he stopped the bleeding by tensing his muscles and healing the wounds at the same time. "This had complicated things," he muttered softly under his breath but the grin was still on his face. Even when the deadly sharp points were now tearing at his skin and slowly grating him into pieces as they moved closer and closer. "From what I know, I probably cannot destroy your mirrors with any low level jutsu."

Unsure as to why Hitsuka was talking to him when the boy was obviously at a disadvantage, Haku opted to remain silent and wait for him to finish. He was not surprised to see the black stick coming out of its summoning scroll. But what he didn't expect to see was Hitsuka turning it into a spear with its spear end made out of ice. 'Since when did he become an ice user?' he wondered, searching his memory for anything that gave an indication of that.

"So what if I use something as strong as yours?"

While that comment had confused him, Haku did not have the time to dwell on it as Hitsuka had done his usual trick and had disappeared from his view. Then one of his mirrors exploded in a shower of glass shards. Shifting his remaining weapons around the fighting arena, he was just in time to catch a view of Hitsuka creating another spear head on his stick before another panel was destroyed. Pausing briefly to gather his thoughts, it was then Haku realised just how many of his mirrors were gone along with his chakra.

"Looks like you cannot create any more mirrors unless you deactivate your current ones," Hitsuka said and knew his hypothesis was right this time. "And until you can figure out what my jutsu is, it seems luck is on my side!"

The process continued to repeat itself. Haku would attack and wound Hitsuka, who was doing his best to avoid becoming a kebab and would retaliate by destroying the remaining mirrors. Finally, there was only one left, others were all reduced to shards of glass on the ground.

Gulping softly, Haku stepped out with a soft sigh. "I still don't understand how you are doing this…" He lifted his arm up, his hand in a tight fist. "But I will still be the winner!" he shouted and spread his fingers wide. At the same time, the mirror cracked and exploded; the pieces of ice and the shards on the ground all came to life and flew towards Hitsuka, small yet deadly projectiles.

Unable to escape as his feet were trapped by ice, Hitsuka did his best to shield and knock off the attacks with his hands. There was a moment of silence when the attack finished, the attacker panting and slouching slightly due to the sudden loss of a huge amount of chakra, and the defender all bloody and bruised.

'Has this fight finished?' everyone wondered, concerned about the fighters' conditions.

"So you can control your ice that way…" Hitsuka said quietly, slowly bringing his now softly glowing hands down to rest by his side as he collapsed to his feet. Gemma stepped forward; a name was already on his lips when the boy lifted his arms up. "Thanks!"

He flicked his fingers wide.

And Haku's world was suddenly filled with a brilliant redness.

Limping forward to stand over the immobilised boy, Hitsuka grinned. "Guess I am the winner this time!"

With a small pout, Haku mumbled, "If it weren't for your strange jutsu…" He strained against the restraints and finally flopped back down, his energy drained and almost depleted. "Let me out of these red constraints!"

The other boy laughed, his mind providing an inappropriate comeback but he told himself to behave. Cutting his flow of chakra to his jutsu, Haku was released from the hold of the ice that was tainted red with Hitsuka's blood. The brunet stilled for a moment as he recognised the lingering the chakra and was confused by it. 'How did…?'

Seeing this confused look, Hitsuka placed a finger on his lips and winked. Still unsatisfied, the brunet still nodded in a wordless agreement that he would keep quiet. 'All well,' he shrugged lightly, 'it'll give me time to figure out this jutsu…'

Still pretending to draw the next match out, the Hokage once again called out, "The next match is: Gaara of the Suna vs. Hyuuga Hinata! Will the contestants please step out!"

A ripple of interest instantly ran through the audience, excited to see the fighter between another Hyuuga – this time the heiress – and the monster of Suna.

Hinata closed her eyes and allowed the voices and cheering surrounded her. Once upon the time, that would have been nerve-breaking for her, reducing her to a stammering mess that would blush and cry. But now it forced her to focus, taking her deeper and deeper into herself until it was only her in this world of nothingness. She was ready.

Jumping down into the arena, she opened her eyes and saw her friends jumping up and down, waving and cheering for her. Her eyes softened before she focused them, waiting patiently for her opponent to join her.

Upstairs both Temari and Kankurou were flustering and worrying about their little brother. Knowing that the still Suna genin was merely a bunshin, they were racking their brains to think up an acceptable excuse for the Hokage while not giving away anything of their would-be betrayal to their father. Suddenly, the figure of their brother burst into a cloud of sand which flew down into the arena and reconstructed into a physical form.

Gaara looked coldly as his opponent, his arms crossed in the usual fashion. Hinata narrowed her eyes at him and instantly sensed something was wrong. Perhaps it was her kunoichi's intuition or her woman's sixth sense, she knew Gaara's mind was not on the fight about to come. Even though she didn't know the boy well, she knew him enough through Hitsuka to know that he was usually serious about a fight unless something was on his mind. Not to brag, but she knew she was on a whole different level than the Oto-nin so whatever was on Gaara's mind, it must be greater than taking her seriously. Thus she did not mind that his mind was not here, it was what was on it.

When the fight had begun, she immediately leapt back and decided to let the other to have the first move. Staring at her, Gaara took a moment to consider his opponent and nodded softly to himself. "I have nothing against you, but…" he started quietly, uncrossing his arms and raised them, his sand flowed out of the gourd and rose around him. "I am sorry."

The sand began its attack. Rushing at the girl, it formed multiple spikes, all aiming at Hinata's extremities. With the petrified girl rooted to the spot, it was easy for them to find their targets. Several people yelled out their concerns and belated warnings as Gemma's toothpick fell from his frozen lips.

"Damn…" Gaara muttered, ashamed that he was not fast enough to stop the attack.

"Looking for me?"

Turning around with wide eyes, Gaara had reacted too slowly and received an opened fist strike squarely in the face. The sand armour cracked and, surprising many, exploded. Reeling back, the boy reached for his face as he grunted in pain, a sensation he had yet gotten used to. The girl, minus her jacket, had escaped the initial attack without even a scratch, showing just how much she had improved.

Blinking furiously, his eyes streamed with tears and his nose bloodied, Gaara had a glint in his eyes.

"What just happened?" Naruto asked, his jaw slacked and eyes wide. "Since when does Hinata-chan use explosives?"

Both Sasuke and Neji had activated their Kekkei Genkai to watch the fight and had understood what had happened better than their fellow genin. "Hinata-sama had pushed her chakra underneath the sand armour which exploded out when the pressure was too much," the older boy briefly reported, wondering if he could do the same.

"Good chakra control is the key here," Sasuke added, knowing that this was not something that he could achieve, yet. "You'll need to build up the chakra in one area and not let it dissipate; otherwise there will be no pressure."

Hitsuka grinned. 'Looks like everyone is growing up so fast!' he thought, having had thought of the same method before. But, he had spent more time with the boy and had foreknowledge of the techniques; Hinata had done far better than he had. 'Right now, I am more worried about 'the plan'.'

Having had sensed the boy's bloodlust, a masked anbu had discreetly began a series of hand seals. Soon, one by one, the audiences started to nod off to sleep. Several of the much sharper ninja had immediately noticed that the floating feathers were not from a freak accident involving several birds, and had immediately made the necessary cancelling jutsu. These included most of the present genin.

"What's going on!" Sasuke shouted, searching for the source of the genjutsu.

"Watch out!"

The four headed snaked had crashed through the walls of Konoha and was on the move to destroy the village, killing as many people as it could. At the same time, smoke had burst out of the two leaders sitting area, obscuring them from view. When a scream was heard, two figures crashed out of the whiteness and landed on top of the roof. Four more joined them and had spread out to each corner.

"Protect the Kage!" an anbu yelled. But before the team could, a purple barrier had the entire roof surrounded, putting them on alert and forcing them to back off in caution.

"So…" the Kazekage breathed, holding his captive tight and threatened him with a kunai. "Hokage-sama…"

Signing deeply, the old man took his pipe out from his lips. "Orochimaru… I thought this day would come eventually…" he said, enjoying the slight jolt of surprise he felt.

Pulling the mask of, the snake-liked man stared. "How did you…!"

"You didn't really think we are that dense, do you?" Jiraiya said, stepping into visibility from his previously hidden place, the cocky grin that was on his face quickly slipped into something more serious.

"Yeah…" Tsunade agreed, joining the small party, "you have really underestimated our grapevine."

Narrowing his eyes at the duo, the ex-senin released his captive and stepped back to give himself more room. "Just like last time in the Forbidden Forest… You are getting classified information from somewhere, or someone." He shrugged and the smile returned. "But you cannot avoid the war that has just started! Konoha will fall and this will be my victory!"

Turning around so he could look at his old student, the Hokage's was so very old. "Orochimaru, you have failed to start a war between Konoha and Suna. Just look at the chaos beneath us, what do you see?"

When the man did, he was furious to see his Oto-nin fighting against ninja from the two villages that were supposed to be at war against each other right now. "What did you do!" he said angrily, an ugly expression on his pale face. "WHAT did you DO!"

_Down in the fighting arena_

"Oi! Kakashi-san!"

Surprised to see the man that had called out his name, Kakashi quickly rid himself of the Oto-nin that was attacking him to join the other. "Hey! I didn't expect to see you after so long!"

The anbu with the white mask tilted his head to one side and laughed softly as he said, "What? Did you think I went MIA?" He quickly sobered up, his voice serious, "Pass this around – Suna is not our enemy. Kazekage is dead. Gaara of the Suna is in charge. Orochimaru is the leader of Oto."

Frowning, the silver-haired man threw the kunai in his hand into another Oto-nin that had reared up behind the anbu. "Is this information reliable? Where did you get it from?" he asked quickly, trusting the man but had to be sure.

"I was the reason that Gaara was late to the exam and I had personally seen him ordering the Suna-nin to stay in line. And as for where the information came from-" he replied and leapt over Kakashi, the shurinken in his hand opened up a throat. "Me!"

That was enough of a reason for the one-eyed man, having had been on many information gathering missions with the anbu before and had witnessed his skills first-handed.

"Sensei! What should we do?" Sakura asked, standing next to her team mates amidst the danger.

About to tell the genin to stay out of the way and hide, something in their eyes stopped his lips. 'Ah… At their age I was already fighting for Konoha,' the one-eyed man thought, his Sharingan pulsed ever so slightly as if in agreement.

"Trust them," the anbu suggested before something drew his attention away.

Raising an eyebrow, Kakashi chuckled and turned towards the serious youngsters. "All right! The Chuunin Exam is without a doubt over due to this invasion from the Oto. You as the ninja of Konoha have the necessary skills and duty to protect the village! I will assign an area to each of you to evacuate the villagers. Protect them, protect your home!"

Standing straight and saluting smartly, the group of genin replied energetically, "Yes, sir!"

"Baki-san! Please stop!" Temari yelled, her hands that were holding her fan trembled.

"It's over, Kazekage is dead and we have called off the attack. This is all that man's trick!" Kankurou added, trying to persuade the suicidal man that was holding his brother captive.

"Back off! You are the ones that were tricked by that Konoha brat! Kazekage-sama cannot be dead!" Baki cried, a crazed look in his eyes. The boy in his arms was eerily silent, though the man's glowing hand on his back could have something to do with it. "I will fight till the very end! So will Gaara, with this sealing jutsu personally taught by Kazekage-sama, he will be released into his true form!"

"You blind, idiotic man."

Hearing this, Baki turned, his invisible blade already in its deadly dance. Evading this, the anbu swiftly detached the man from the red head and had him in a painful bind. "It's too late!" the man screamed in both joy and fear, his eyes fixed on the curled up boy who was holding his head and groaning in pain. "Shukaku has been freed! It's only a matter of time before he is here!"

Silencing him with a knock to the head, the anbu quickly went to Gaara's side. He did not flinch when the boy's right arm erupted into that of a monster's and came close to beheading him. His masked, however, cracked and the bottom half fell away. Reacting to this, Kakashi was readied to leap in to lend a hand when he was stopped. "It's okay! I'll handle him! Get the genin out of here!"

Frowning but still followed the order, Kakashi went back to assigning teams.

Temari looked close to tears. "How! No one has ever been able to stop _him_ before!" she cried and Kankurou hurried to support her. "Where's Hitsuka-kun!"

"He came to find me!"

Seeing who it was, the Suna siblings breathed a sigh of relief before blowing up at the man. "Yashamaru-san! What took you so long!"

Yashamaru landed next to the anbu, his face unusually serious. "Sorry, my side took more convincing before they are willing to turn," he replied, reaching out to his nephew. Sensing the new presence and mistaking it as hostile, the deformed hand lashed out once again in a blind attack.

"Yashamaru-san!"

Someone clapped sharply, drawing people's attention.

Finding this more intimidating, the clawed hand changed its course and a claw had gone right through the anbu's hand. Bearing the attack without a sound, the anbu held onto it firmly. Gaara roared, shaking the ground and people's hearts with its force. "You!" he screamed, though at this point it was perhaps the Shukaku. "It's you! I will destroy you!"

The man's blood, instead of flowing freely was absorbed by the sand, rapidly dying it red. Grinning widely and ferociously, it was not hard to see that Shukaku was intending to suck the man dry of blood.

Seeing this, the anbu smiled.

Shukaku suddenly jerked and glared at him. "What are you doing!" he growled and flinched, cradling his head with the human hand. "Stop yelling… I'll do what I damn want to do… Stop…" he muttered, his voice grew softer and weaker. "STOP IT! JUST STOP IT!"

"What are you doing to him!" Yashamaru cried, grabbing at the man but was knocked away.

"Don't touch me or you'll be affected as well," the anbu said sternly. "I am trying to seal Shukaku and Gaara is helping."

Hearing this, Yashamaru finally realised that Shukaku was talking to his host, not this man. "Who are you?" he asked at last, finding something strangely nostalgic about this anbu.

The only visible part of the anbu's face quirked up into a smile. "Don't worry, Gaara is strong and he will not give in to the temptation of evil," he replied, confusing the Suna-nin as it was not the answer he was searching for.

Suddenly, a look of realisation came across his face, then shock tinged with understanding. Clenching his fists, Yashamaru stood up and went to pull his other nephew and niece up. "Come on, we will be more help elsewhere," he said authoritatively, slinging Baki's body over his shoulder.

"But…"

"Gaara… he's in good hands." As soon as Yashamaru had said this, a sand dome engulfed the two, blocking them from others' view.

"You-You don't think Shukaku has…" Kankurou trailed off, afraid to finish his question in fear of being right.

"Come on," Temari said firmly and pushed her brother, wiping her eyes with the other hand. "We have to trust what Yashamaru said. What will Gaara-chan say when he finds out later that we have done nothing to help Konoha!" Kankurou looked unhappy but still followed his sister, glancing over his shoulder from time to time.

Finally out of sight and alone with Shukaku's host, Hitsuka shook off his half destroyed mask, keeping his free hand firmly on the sand wall. "Gaara…" he whispered softly, beginning to feel a hint of dizziness due to the blood loss. "Come back to us…!"

"I am in control now! That brat's pitiful attempt at retaliation is nothing! He's so weak that I can take control even in this half-baked transformation!" Shukaku growled, showing his fangs. "And you, I will shake off your jutsu and destroy you!"

True to his words, his arm grew several more spikes and had sent them all towards the boy. Doing his best to dodge them all while keeping his hands in the same place, Hitsuka still could not avoid being pierced in his side. Those that missed went straight into the surrounding wall and solidified.

Roaring with laughter, the red head became confused when he saw how Hitsuka was still smiling despite his current predicament. "What's so funny!"

Wondering if it was his mind playing a trick on him, Hitsuka fancied that there was a tremble in his attacker's voice. "Have you noticed how the sand is no longer listening to you," he asked, and to proof this, the bloody spike that was in his side dissolved away. All the blood that had been soaked up by the sand started to crawl up Shukaku's arm, forming into letters as it went.

Eyes wide, Shukaku tried to yank his arm back again, this time in earnest. But his previous attack had immobilised it, and he was not strong enough in his current form to break the spikes. Staring at the small boy that was grinning at him with fangs, the beast finally realised the reason that the Hokage had chosen him to be an anbu. "That's… How did you…!"

"It's time for you to go back to sleep, Shukaku," Hitsuka said, touching the wound on his side and wrote the final rune to complete the seal. "I am sure Gaara has done his part and has taken control once again." He breathed a sigh of relief, watching as the light in the yellow eye slowly dimmed and the green one coming back to focus.

With what little control over the arm he had, Shukaku closed his fist, widening the hole that was in Hitsuka's hand. "One day, I will destroy you!" he promised. "One day…!"

Catching the collapsed boy, Hitsuka gently laid him down to the ground. "Hitsu… ka…" Gaara muttered, finding comfort from the other's smile. "I'm… sorry…"

"Just rest for now, Gaara," the white-haired boy replied though he averted his face so his eyes were in the shadows. Nevertheless, this only served to pronounce how brightly they were glowing. "You will be safe here."

"But the war… I have to… be there. For my people…"

"Don't worry; I'll take care of it."

* * *

Obviously the shrink did not work and so… I sincerely apologise for not coming back any sooner. I don't have any excuse, merely laziness and lack of ideas.

Hopefully I will be back with something new sooner.


	23. What Are Friends For?

Happy Chinese New Year!

I know I am a couple of days late in saying that but its better late than never, right? I doubt people who are reading this fanfic would agree with that…

Well, here's the long-awaited chapter twenty-three and I have to say, it is quite focused on Hitsuka, unfortunately. I usually try not to place too much of a highlight on him (yeah right, says the rest of the cast) but there are so much things that needed to be explained in this chapter that I couldn't help it.

That was why I had so much trouble writing it.

I have a good idea as to where everything is going and pretty much the next chapter sussed out, and the previous chapter was easier to write as I just needed to figure out how to make each fight original. But this one… it is the in-between that is so important as it depicts exactly which version of the upcoming chapters is going to be. I have to say (or whine, more like), with university, exams, training full-time at the hospital and socialising all going on in my life, I am really crap with time management. I should have this chapter out sooner despite all of the above, even my mother is using this fanfic writing as a example of just how loyal and responsible I am to my readers (not much, in case you are wondering). I know all if my promises before are just lies, but I will seriously try harder.

So, to all the readers that are reading this fanfic, I hope you will enjoy this chapter.

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

* * *

Chapter twenty-three – What Are Friends For?

_On the rooftop_

"Orochimaru… this is low…" Tsunade muttered, dodging an attack from her own grandfather, the Shodai Hokage. "But then again, it's you we are talking about."

Fighting head on with the Nidaime Hokage, Jiraiya was not deterred when his giant fireball was so easily put out by his opponent's water jutsu. As his hands flew into a complex sequence of hand seals, a soft voice from a memory surfaced to his conscience.

"_Jiraiya-sama… Please be aware of what Sandaime-sama may do." The boy looked away though the man could tell something was wrong from his shaking voice. "Be aware of… of the Fuuin Jutsu: Shiki Fuuji."_

Having had never heard of that jutsu before, Jiraiya was still be very cautious, not taking any chance due to Hitsuka's behaviours. A flying chunk of roof coming towards his head forced him to duck. "Oi, Tsunade! Stick to your own side, will ya!"

"Shut up! Concentrate or do you want to get killed!" was the harsh reply, cracking a grin on the man's face despite this serious situation.

Feeling this more than seeing it, Tsunade also smiled. "Alright! Grandpa, ready to rock n' roll!"

"Why are they laughing!" Orochimaru asked incredulously, all of his glee and jeer had left him. Right now he was angry and bitter, wondering who had betrayed him so that his perfect plan laid in ruin.

"Because they are not afraid of you," the Hokage replied, facing his old student in his complete fighting gears, showing that he was not a rusty sword that many had thought him to be. "We will win!"

Looking at the old man, the frown that was on his face suddenly lifted. "But I still at least one advantage over you!" he laughed, pulling the thin mask off his face, revealing another underneath it. "Youth!"

Grimacing at this young face, the Hokage silent prayed and apologised to the brutally sacrificed soul. "So you are after Uchiha Sasuke now."

Pouting slightly for not having the chance to brag about his success, Orochimaru nevertheless agreed with that eerie smile of his. "May be," he said though he knew otherwise. "Might wait a couple of years for him to grow up."

Slowly performing a set of hand seals, the Hokage took his time before he replied, the responsibilities and the life of his people weighed heavily upon him. "Orochimaru… it was my mistake for not killing you then," he began quietly, his hands formed the seal for inu, the fourth one in the sequence. "I will kill you now and correct my past mistakes!"

Speeding up, he was suddenly knocked down by a body, so concentrated he was he was not able to dodge it.

"Sensei! Don't do it!" Jiraiya cried, him being the one that had threw the body of the Nidaime. Bleeding and breathing deeply, the white-haired man was able to best one of the leaders of Konoha by employing many of his jutsu and several of his water-loving frogs.

"I don't know why but I agree with him!" Tsunade yelled out, standing over the immobilised body of her grandfather, her condition far better than her fellow teammate. Sensing the look of unfairness, she tossed her pigtails over her shoulders and took on a superior look.

Pulling himself up, the Sandaime frowned. "Why did you stop me?" he asked, his voice firm and strict. 'It was as if you knew what would happen… Ah… I see, Hitsuka…' At the thought of the boy, a sudden fondness filled him and he knew why Hitsuka had told his student about this particular jutsu. 'But what are we going to do as these _zombies_ will just regenerate themselves?'

As if proofing this point, the body of the Shodai suddenly leapt into action and soon had the surprised female senin in a disadvantage position. "Tsunade!" her worried teammates yelled out belatedly.

"Well, well, what have we here?" Orochimaru sneered, sauntering up to the duo as he had sensed the wind changing to his side. "If this isn't Tsunade-hime?" He leaned down, ignoring the threats from Jiraiya he brought his face close to the other. "What does it feel like, overpowered by your own grandfather?"

Ignoring the snarky comment, Tsunade simply blasted her way out of the wooden prison. Using the broken tree trunks as stakes, she slammed them into the body of her grandfather, immobilising him. Maintaining her speed, she was soon into the personal space of Orochimaru, smirking at his surprised expression. "Did you think my family would just thrive in the legend of my grandfather? Of course we would look for weaknesses and improvement of all of our jutsu!"

Stiffening the fingers of her right hand, she lifted them in preparation to slash down with her deadlychakra blade.

_At the Ninja Academy_

Having had herded all the Academy students into the structurally reinforced basements that appeared to have existed since the war of Shodaime's time, the genin and teachers quickly dispersed themselves to cover the Academy grounds. At first, Iruka was adamant that the genin should be with the students, hiding in safety and leave the fighting to the adults. But Naruto and Sasuke's stubbornness, the fact that the enemies were closing in and they were sorely out-numbered and out of time, won in the end.

Finding himself temporary alone with his thoughts, Iruka finally admitted to himself that the genin were no longer naïve and what Kakashi had said was true – they were no longer his students, they were the soldiers of the village. There was a brief flash of sadness as he felt remorseful about his village needing child soldiers. He had truly believed they had reached and earned the peace they had worked so hard for; he himself had seen the children of his generation giving up their childhood to fight.

"Iruka-sensei! They are coming!" Sakura called out softly, being the messenger and quickly moved on.

Briefly catching her eyes, Iruka was suddenly ashamed of himself for doubting these genin. He had always thought Sakura would not be a good kunoichi, far too innocent and distracted from her training. But, look at her now. He was proud of her improvement and just knew she would be one of the best. Steeling his eyes, he nodded tersely; his usual air of the kind teacher was gone.

With soft _thumps_, the main groups of Oto- and Suna-nin landed in front of the Konoha-nin. The three groups stared at each other in tensed silence from their own corner of the triangle. The usual response in a battle was: "Enemies! Attack! Fight! Retreat!" But no one dared to move, doubts caused fears in provoking unnecessary response.

The Konoha ninja were not sure who exactly their enemies were. Could they trust that the Suna-nin would not turn on them? Could they place the life of the children on an uncertain faith?

Even the Suna-nin were not sure who they were supporting anymore. Their plan, however idiotic it was, had been under process for months and was put into motion. Then the monster, sure they respected him and he was Kazekage-sama's son but a monster nevertheless, called off the attack on the day with the news of the death of their leader. No explanation, nothing. Just the order to turn on the Oto-nin. But did they dare? What if they had been tricked by Konoha with a Henge?

In the case of the Oto-nin, they faced the uncertainties of being outnumbered. So, fearing for being killed, the silent agreement was to stay put.

Sweat trickled down people's backs and faces, yet no one made moves to wipe the drops away. The only movement within the clearing was the soft heaving of chests and flickering of eyes. Finally, one brave – and perhaps stupid – Oto-nin could no longer take it anymore.

"What are you waiting for!" he yelled at the tense Suna-nin, his voice extraordinarily loud in the quiet gathering. "Can't you tell you've been tricked by these sneaky Konoha dogs? Look at them, a couple of chuunin and genin! No wonder they would lower themselves like the pitiful bugs that they are and make us fight amongst allies!" he finished proudly.

'Are we mammals or exoskeleton insects?' all the present Konoha resident wondered.

Nevertheless, it worked. One by one, the uncertain expression on the Suna-nin's faces disappeared and became hostile. Wanting to gain brownie points, the Oto-nin who provoked the others rushed forward, prompting his comrades to follow closely behind, casting any remaining doubts aside.

He was the first to die. His scream of fear was suddenly cut off as sand quickly engulfed him. The sand coffin rose off the ground and in one heart beat, the clearing was showered with blood. Iruka winced lightly but forced himself to look at the scene in front of him. After all, they could have a new enemy on their hands.

"What do you idiots think you are doing?" a young yet commanding voice stopped any remaining activities. All heads turned to look at the source and saw one of the last people they expected to see. But what did they expect; there was only one known person in the world that could perform that jutsu.

"Gaara!" Naruto cried, surprised by how energetic the boy was, considered only half an hour ago he was half deformed and in pain. Then he remembered this boy, his friend, had just killed a man in the most brutal way he had ever seen. Only Sasuke's hand on his shoulder stopped him from yelling out his exact thoughts about it.

"Gaara-sama! We…" the Suna-nin stuttered as they trembled under the cold gaze, any suspicion of Konoha's trickery was long gone. "We…"

"We!" the red-head boy continued for the man who was about to wet himself in face of a child. "We are no longer the enemies of Konohagakure. We are to stand by their side and protect this village! Do you hear me!"

"Yes sir!"

Nodding his head once, the powerful child disappeared in a swirl of sand and leaves, supposedly heading off to do more damage control like he had just done. His unspoken command had relayed the amount of trust he had placed on his subordinates. The Oto-nin soon found themselves in serious troubles.

Tying and gagging his enemy, Sasuke noticed the frown that had appeared along with Gaara's appearance still remained fixed on Naruto's face. "What's up?" he asked lightly, knowing full well what was bothering the other.

"I still can't understand why Gaara would kill that man like that," the blond muttered after a moment of silence. "Surely there was no need to…"

The brunet could understand the conflicting emotions as he, too, was once plagued by them. "Naruto… Gaara did what he did because that was the quickest, clearest way to identify himself." He elaborated when this was met with confusion, "From what I had gathered, not all Suna-nin believed the message of them fighting the Oto. That coupled with all the confusion had thrown them off and made them suspicious of anything and anyone. Thus with on push from the Oto, they had easily turned against us. In that situation, if Gaara did not perform the jutsu that only he could, he could have provoked a negative response and face being attack by his own people."

Naruto listened attentively, knowing this type of thinking and logic was not his forte. He could understand now the reasons behind the boy's action, and he had reluctantly approved of it. He knew, inevitably, he would kill one day, when and how might be beyond his control. Perhaps he would have to chose to kill to prove himself just like Gaara had forced to do, or perhaps he needed to so he could protect others. Thus, it was better for him to face the harsh reality of the ninja world sooner rather than later, just like Sasuke had.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

_The end of the war_

The war, if one could call it such, was over before some even noticed it had begun. With the temporary leader of the Suna all over the place, helping Konoha, there was little doubt as to who Suna had allied itself with. This had left Oto in a severe disadvantage and most of its ninja had fled, with the remaining either laid dead or held prisoner.

All that now remained was the fight between the leaders of the two villages at war up on the roof, and it appeared victory was in the hands of Konoha.

However, nothing had happened. No bleeding wound, no cry of pain; Orochimaru's top wasn't even torn. Everyone sighed, either in disappointment or relief, at Tsunade's failed attempt.

The snake-liked man burst out laughing, shocking the other two men out of their frozen disbelief. "I'm afraid you have missed, my dear hime," he mocked, taunting her. It appeared Orochimaru had leapt back just in time to avoid getting cut in half from his right shoulder to his left hip.

The pretty princess smirked ferociously in reply, a bright light in her eyes that should not had been there after her failure.

"Oh, Orochimaru, Orochimaru…" she chided gently, shaking her head. All the men stared at her in confusion, no one daring to move until more was known about the situation. "Do you honestly believe I would make such a fatal mistake? Of course I knew you would be fast enough to avoid my longest chakra blade. So…"

She held up her hand again, a soft, almost transparent light engulfing it. "It's been years, Orochimaru. My chakra blades no longer just cut things and flesh. By making them so thin and transparent, I can reach further than my normal blades. And these ones can even cut chakra circuits!"

"No…" Orochimaru breathed, his hands flew into a complicated sequence of hand seals, prompting the other two males into action to protect their female team mate who just confidently stood there. When nothing happened, they stared at each other, some in confusion or rage and one in wild delight.

Beginning another set of hand seals, this time much simpler, Orochimaru's hands shook violently when all he got was a burst of harmless smoke. He gave a wordless scream of frustration tinged with fear and swung around to glare hatefully at the female senin. "You! You WENCH! I'll kill YOU!" he screeched shrilly, his sword appeared in his hands and slashing down.

Fortunately, Tsunade was an expert at determining the exact moment when someone would blow up, having had looked after multiple emotionally unstable patients before. Thus she knew this attack was coming and had dodged the terrible blow. All the while, she taunted him mercilessly with details of what was to be Orochimaru's fate.

"No one can live without chakra; every part of our bodies depends heavily on it! Your arms, without the flow of chakra in them, will slowly grow heavy and turn into a pale purple, gradually darkening into black. Then," she laughed coldly as she made a slashing motion, "they will fall off! You're life as a ninja is over!"

Realising this was effectively the same as the jutsu he was originally planning to use – without the whole sacrificing thing – the Hokage was thrilled to know Orochimaru was stopped in his reign to terror. Staring into the hateful eyes of his old student, there was a tint of regret in his own as he was remorseful for not being the one to stop him – and for feeling gleeful at the demise of his once beloved subordinate. "Orochimaru… your ambitions will end here!"

Orochimaru was filled with rage and an unbearable grief over his loss of not only his war but also something greater, his jutsu. Swearing obscenely, he commanded his puppets to continue their attacks on these hateful Konoha ninja, securing a safe passage for him out of this disappointment. He no longer cared about the Shodai and Nidaime, having had found them useless and not worth the fight.

The walls that had separated him and his Oto-nin wavered and dissolved, and soon they were next to him, confusion and fear on their faces. "This is over, it's all finished," he grinded out between his teeth to his concerned subordinates. And then, he said the words he hated to voice, "Retreat."

"Oh no you don't!" Jiraiya snarled, tearing after the group of retreating Oto-nin. His charge, however, was broken abruptly by one of the men he had respected so much. "Get off me!" he yelled into the stoic face of Nidaime, twisting his head to watch helplessly as his hated ex-teammate disappeared from his sight as the distance between them grew.

"Damn it!" Anger and frustration tinged with grief twisted the pretty face of the female senin, her hands literally tied by her own grandfather.

The current Hokage worked at freeing his students, knowing neither of them could survive without one another against the still energetic opponents. Managing to blast Nidaime away from his comrade, he did not need to give further instructions as Jiraiya was already alighting the wood surrounding Tsunade, fuelling it with frog oil.

"Sensei! Any idea how we can get rid of these two!" Tsunade yelled, watching with tight eyes as her headless grandfather staggered about drunkenly, his head already regenerating itself.

Sighing tiredly, the great leader loathed to admit he was just about to ask the same question. "Let's just contain them first!"

"Sensei, we can handle them! Your people need you!" Jiraiya shouted though the foot on his face showed anything but. Nevertheless, Sandaime knew this to be true and, with a look that conveyed more than any words could at the moment, he was away to look at his village.

Tsunade paused for a second, deciding what to do, knowing her previous method did not work. Then, her hands flew into action. Watching her, Jiraiya winced lightly at the sound and sight – the medical expert had dislocated all the major joints of her victim and had used his own limbs to create a human pretzel. Leaning heavily on the body to further immobilise it, she looked far more at ease than the struggling Jiraiya, who had help from several Konoha ninja. "So, what now?"

As if answering her call, an all-too-familiar anbu landed in front of her. About to ask for an update, she was shocked into silence by how dishevelled he looked. It was only her reflex that had prevented the boy from landing face-first at her feet, collapsing from sheer exhaustion. "Kami-sama! What the hell happened to you!"

Undoing his last earring, Hitsuka was able to stand straighter as energy flushed the fatigue out of him. "Been around a bit," he answered simply, stretching and slapping his arms, legs and hands to get some feeling back into them. "Right," he muttered grimly, ignoring the suspicious stares from the senin and crouched down to look at the quiet but struggling Shodai. "What are you going to do with them?"

Still slightly annoyed at being brushed off, Tsunade only shrugged an answer.

Licking his dry lips unnoticed under his mask and blinking away the cold perspiration that was pouring down his forehead, he leaned forward to touch the immobilised body. Shuddering lightly, he quickly withdrew his arm and stepped away. Breathing heavily now, he was all too aware of the eyes that were burning into him. Shaking his head, he turned back to Tsunade while rubbing his hands harshly on his pants. "I'm going to check on the genin," he told her and headed off without waiting for a reply.

Just as he passed Jiraiya's labouring mass, Nidaime's arm swung around suddenly and struck him.

The two senin's hearts leapt into their throats, the heaviness choking then momentarily. But they settled back down when they saw the boy had caught the limb firmly into his hand. However, they missed the now heavy tremors that overtook his body as he staggered off the roof. They were still too busy with their opponents, even though they were now strangely quiet.

Hitsuka only had enough mind fixed in reality to remember that he should not de-mask in public and that he needed to look for somewhere secluded. Besides, he did not really want people to see him lying in his own vomit.

Losing conscious for a few seconds, he landed poorly in the clearing and collapsed into a boneless heap, his mask clattering off some distance from him. "Crap…" he muttered and quickly turned his head to one side to heave up his breakfast. Forcing himself up and away from the puddle on the ground with a moan, his befuddled mind suddenly had a thought that wrenched a mirthless laughter out of him.

His old hair style would have just dragged through his stomach content, and he remembered the reason why he had cut his hair after years of keeping it the same way.

_Flash back_

He had always kept his hair long even though it was often more of a bother than anything else. It was a pain to wash and had proved to be a good target to pull on during fights. It wasn't until recent years did he finally manage to avoid getting maimed because of his hair. But, despite all the troubles it had bought him, he had never once considered cutting it.

Away from the strict rules of high school and general prejudice of the society, he had the freedom of whichever hairstyle he liked. So he had chosen his mother's. He had always been bitter by the fact he shared no similar features with his family, even before he found out that he was adopted. So when given the chance, he grew out the only thing that he could somewhat link himself to one of his parents. For all these years, it had been a small comfort for him as he felt like his whole family was with him.

But now, his love had turned into hate. With no remorse, he had cut his hair off in one clean sweep and trimmed it so short that it resembled Naruto's. It was ironic, he realised, that the only thing that he could have to tie himself with the parents that raised him was the only similarity to his real parent that he could destroy.

As he was burning the last physical link to his family away, he allowed himself to cry under the pretence of smoke irritating his eyes.

Orochimaru was indeed a possessive man – he had taken everything.

_In the forest clearing_

Blinking the little moisture in his eyes away, Hitsuka half-heartedly wondered why his eyesight was not clearing up and remained blurry. Staring blankly at his left hand, he had this strange sensation of heaviness crawling up his arms like the darkness that was at the edge of his vision. He briefly thought about what was happening to him and finally, with a tired sigh, he closed his eyes and decided to rest his heavy body for now. He would think later when he wasn't feeling so tired.

The wounds on his body reopened as the tension had left him, his slow heartbeat gently pumped his blood out, turning the soil underneath him into a dark, sticky mess.

But Hitsuka did not notice it, his mind was too far away for him to do anything.

He jolted awake, a warning was already on his lips as he reached out – he knew he would die if nothing was done in the near future. All the warning signs were there but remained unrecognised by his confused mind. However, there was a little part of him that had remained vigilant and had tried to warn him.

He guessed that was how he managed to become so instantly alert – in his own mind that was.

Shaking his head slightly to further clear it – even though he technically was shaking an image of himself that only existed in, well, in his mind – he got off the white couch that he was lying on. Padding away from it, he suddenly frowned softly he as glanced back at the furniture. With one glare it instantaneously turned into a lovely shade of green. Now smiling softly as he was satisfied, he squared his shoulders and turned to the free-standing fusuma (1) to face the mess that he had created.

The doors slid open silently to admit his entrance and disappeared as he stepped through. With a deep bow, he greeted his two guests respectfully, "Shodai-sama, Nidaime-sama, I apologise for the current situation."

The two men, clad in their comfortable daily cloth, looked at each other, communicating wordlessly with their eyes. They were no longer the mindless puppets that were under Orochimaru's control. They were the powerful, well-respected Senju brothers, Hashirama and Tobirama.

"Child, who are you? Where are we?" Hashirama asked calmly though his stance suggested otherwise. "The last I remember I was in a world of hell, being forced to fight my own granddaughter… to the death."

"And I almost killed Sandaime's student," the other man said gently, lifting his hands up to look at them, seeing the invisible blood that was not his on them.

"My name is Yuki Hitsuka, an anbu of Konohagakure and…"

He hesitated, the words he was about to form were unfamiliar on his tongue as he had yet to introduce himself as such. No, he had avoided using it at all cost since he came to know himself as such. But, he had to.

"…You may better know me as one of the Tamashii Shuushuuka (2) of the Ki Clan."

The two men did not hide their surprise this time.

"Tamashii Shuushuuka! I thought they were just a myth?" Tobirama exclaimed, unable to believe the boy in front of him was actually someone out of the stories they told to make the children be nice. "We used to tell the kids that if they didn't behave the Tamashii Shuushuuka would come and take their souls away!"

Hitsuka couldn't help but to feel slightly offended by that comment.

Shodai was silent, observing. He had known about the clan, had met them and drank with them. He recognised the trademark gold eyes the boy had and the fact that the two ex-Hokage were here unquestionably made him one of the Ki. "Your clan, while part of the Konoha, has isolated itself from the village life a long time ago, so why are you here?" he asked and his brother turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow.

"You knew?" he said with a hint of accusation in his voice. "Was that why you discouraged everyone from using them as the bogeyman?" He rolled his eyes heavenward when his brother nodded affirmative. "Why didn't you tell me? And why did the clan go into hiding? With them and their Kekkei Genkai, we would have been able to save so many people!"

Hashirama sighed and glanced at the boy whom nodded. "From what I have found out, my clan did not want to participate in the war," he said quietly, recalling the information from the thin little book he had found in the library. "Our power could be so easily misused and to avoid becoming… inhuman, it was the best the clan remained neutral. And to answer your question," he looked up, cutting off the man, "I had no choice."

The men sensed that this conversation was not for now and, as they were already dead, not for them. "Very well."

"So, what's going to happen to us now? If the myths are true then…" Tobirama trailed off, not wanting to finish his sentence, for if they were true, the two brothers' futures would be bleak.

Hitsuka, however, was already shaking his head. "I have no such ambition. While my Kekkei Genkai makes me a Tamashii Shuushuuka, I have no intention of being one – the sacrifice would be too great. The only reason why I had ever used it upon you both was because that was the only way I could think of in stopping you. So," he stepped aside and another fusuma appeared next to him, "… do you have anything you would like to say to the others?"

Hashirama took his eyes off the opening doors and looked at the young Shuushuuka. "Please tell Tsunade I am sorry, and… look under the white butterfly." Reaching out a hand, he shook the surprised boy's much smaller one. "Thank you, thank you for saving us from that hell," he said emotionally.

Tobirama placed his own hand on Hitsuka's shoulder and reached down with the other to have his own handshake. "Tell Jiraiya I didn't mean to try to kill him for me, alright? And tell Sarutobi that he's doing a great job with the village. Thanks."

Then, having nothing else that they need to say or could do, the two men walked towards the open doors into the brilliant brightness. Hitsuka bowed once again. "It was an honour to meet you both," the boy whispered. "I will pass on your messages."

The light pulsed suddenly, throwing a long shadow behind the small form for a brief moment, then, he was all alone again.

"And now…" Straightening his back, he turned to face the approaching figure. "Shin…"

"Hey squirt," the older teen called back, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "What a day you have had there."

Hitsuka stood there silently, his eyes upon his fiddling thumbs.

Shion slowly lowered his arms and paused in his advancement. "What is it, Hitsuka? What's bothering you? You have just done something great, something the two great men had thanked you for."

"You have seen what I had done, I have killed today, brother," Hitsuka replied shamefully in a small voice. "And those stuff with Orochimaru and everything…"

"Is that why you have been avoiding me?" Shion sighed; scratching his head as he finally knew why he was unable to talk to his brother in the last couple of weeks. Palming his face in frustration, he peeked at the boy through the gaps of his fingers and he did something a brother would probably do in this situation. He punched with all his might.

Whether Hitsuka did not want to dodge it or he simply did not expect it, the punch landed solidly, causing him to stumble slightly. He stared dumbfounded over Shion's shoulder as he was suddenly swept into a bone-crushing hug. "You silly, idiotic brother," the man breathed, holding his brother in everything but blood closer. "It was a war, Hitsuka, you cannot avoid it if you want to be a ninja – it's part of a ninja's life. You're smart so you should know this already." Pulling away slightly, he looked hard into the large golden eyes. "I am not telling you to forget what you have done, but you must know what is right and what is wrong."

"I understand… but it's hard not to feel so guilty…"

"I am sure you will learn how to cope with it all. I have full confidence in you," Shion said proudly and, with a small wink, he continued, "And who cares if you are the son of Kyuubi and Orochimaru, you are still my annoying little brother!"

The smile on Hitsuka's face faltered and then all but disappeared. "Shin, I…" He paused and took a deep breath to stop his voice from shaking. "You must go," he said finally, gesturing in the direction of the opened fusuma. "I really hate to say this but you must leave me now."

Shion looked at him in disbelief. "You can't be serious! I can't leave you!" he argued, an unexplained anger rising within him. "You need someone there with you when you are in the clutches of that man! Someone to keep you sane!"

"No!" Hitsuka shouted back, his hands balling up as he fought against his desire and frustration. "Of course I want you to be here! You are my brother, my family!"

"So-"

"So I need to protect you," Hitsuka quickly cut off Shion's argument, backing away to avoid his touch. "You must know what my Kekkei Genkai is capable of doing by now. I don't want to lose you because of me!" He hid his face with his hands so his voice came out muffled, "I have even used it on Naruto…"

"…What do you mean?"

Hitsuka turned his face away, refusing to look at Shion's penetrating gaze. "All of my research said that it is impossible for normal jutsu to achieve a mental link between two people. As neither of us was competent with jutsu, I had thought it was because of Kyuubi, though he wasn't sure how he had done it either. But now I know." He gave a humourless snort and shook his head. "The mental link that I had so comfortably shared with Naruto is because of my Kekkei Genkai. I have been literally devouring Naruto from the inside, someone I had sworn to protect no matter what!"

"You don't know that!"

"Then how is it that I was able to disconnect it so easily?"

Shion had nothing to say in response to that.

Hitsuka sighed and relented, somewhat, "Even if that wasn't the case, my Curse Seal certainly will destroy you."

The older male snorted. "What can it do to me?" he asked, thinking of the protection provided by Jiraiya's double seal. "I certainly haven't felt or seen anything."

Hitsuka sighed with a frustrated frown on his face. "That's because I have been keeping you away from it! This room, these white walls, they have been hiding the ugly truth because I don't want you to see what I am becoming!"

At the disbelieving look on his brother's face, he threw his hands out. Instantly, the walls surrounding them began shifting back and expanding in lengths at an alarming speed as the ceiling raised so fast that Shion thought it was them who were falling down.

Then, floating right in front of them, was a large ball of heavy chains. The chains, inscribed with strange golden runes, where groaning and creaking as they seemed to fight with whatever was in the centre in order to contain it. It was emitting such darkness that had dyed its surrounding whiteness with tendrils in the now familiar sick purple, constantly moving and expanding to cover more grounds.

At such sight, Shion had fallen to his backside, a look of utter shock and disgust on his face. "What is this… this tumour!"

"This is the Curse Seal," Hitsuka answered solemnly, looking at the thing as it hissed and spat at them. "It is slowly contaminating my soul despite the Seals. And I have no doubt that yours will be, too."

"So! So what if I will be contaminated as well? I will still be with you!"

The smaller boy finally looked up at his brother. "Call me superstitious or whatnot, but I have never heard of a religion where a soul is so tainted with such evilness is accepted," he said seriously and he knew he was low to use religion as his argument point as his brother was a religious man.

Shion really looked like he was about the punch Hitsuka again. Letting out a big breath, he replied softly, "But I will still be with you, and nothing can compete with that. So there is nothing that you can do to make me walk through that door."

At this, Hitsuka gave him a sad smile. "I am afraid I don't need you to agree," he said softly and waved his hand towards the fusuma.

Shion then felt a force from behind him, pushing him in the direction Hitsuka had gestured at. He, of course, had struggled against it, but to no avail, he was still slowly being pulled. "Hitsuka! Don't do this!" he pled, grabbing the boy's top who did not avoid his touch this time. "I can't leave you alone! Especially now!"

Holding his tears back, Hitsuka breathed out deeply before lifting his head up, a smile on his face. "Nii-chan, I was so happy when I found out that you have always been with me. But it was only because of a miracle that my Kekkei Genkai hasn't affected you all these years." He stopped when his voice trembled and he had to take several deep breaths before he could do on. "Now… because of the Curse, I will taint your soul and I will never be able to forgive myself if you cannot rest peacefully!"

"Hitsuka! That's just stupid and you know it!"

Ignoring that comment, Hitsuka embraced his brother for one last time. "Good bye, nii-chan, I love you," he whispered, feeling the hands that had now grabbed the back of his top held on even tighter.

Shion had fully understood where Hitsuka was coming from, and it warmed his heart to know that his little brother was willing to put himself through hell to save the elder one. Thus, knowing it was futile to argue, with a heavy sigh that held so much of his emotions, Shion decided to leave his little brother with something other than angry words. Kissing the white head gently, he smiled as the boy finally broke down crying at this. "I love you, too." Choking lightly, he continued, "Take care of yourself."

Then he was gone.

Alone in his mind with the ball of chaos, Hitsuka had never felt so lonely before.

_Few days after the war_

They were all crowding in front of the small, hastily built platform, waiting patiently for the start of the debriefing. Despite the glaring sun and stifling heat, no one complained about being out in the element as they sweated away. After all, there was no room that was big enough to fit them all. Almost every ninja that was involved in the war was there, including the anbu and even the genin.

Anyone that was less experience in warfare might be confused by the need for the gathering. They had all written their reports, giving their account of what had happened. So why waste time sitting here when there was so much work to do?

But not to Kakashi.

The war veteran knew the importance of such debriefing and, in fact, looked forward to it each time. It was like listening to a long story, told by different voices and tones. This story would bring everyone up to speed as to what had happened. Of course, as the Hokage had heard and read all the reports, those of the sensitive nature would be omitted.

Thus, the story telling began with a jounin that was in charge of watching over the Chuunin Exam. One after another, his simple story was being built on and layered until it was a complicated yet clear structure that contained pieces of different people's life. The story took them all on a journey from the heart of the war to other parts of the village with those knowing the extra bits of that area adding their knowledge.

He watched proudly as his team told their stories, adding a bit to each other's tale as they painted a picture. Neither of them was trying to show off or put the others down; they were simply giving an account of what they saw and did.

One thing that had stood out amongst everyone's voices was the act of Gaara of the Suna. Kakashi had to admit that, without the boy's actions and help, they would probably cover more grounds with the graves of those that had fallen. But there was something that kept on bothering the man. He was there when Gaara was taken over by Shukaku and had seen the lone sand dome in the arena from air some time later. If the Suna boy was still in the dome, then who was the one that was patrolling Konoha? But since he could still perform the Shukaku-only jutsu, surely then…

Adding that on to his already long list of mysteries to solve, Kakashi returned the remainder of his attention back to the Hokage who had rose to stand on the platform as the story had finished. "Thank you all, you have done well in this war!" he said powerfully, every bit of the great leader that he was and the crowd roared their answer back to him, delighted. Raising a hand for silence, he continued, "But do not forget those that have lost their life protecting their home, our home. Please stand and give them a moment of respect for they deserve it and more." He paused, waiting for everyone to stand, then he started reciting the names of those that were killed in the war from memory, "Aita Kouchi, Atashi Hana…"

It did not take long but it was still a terribly sad list.

At last, when Sandaime had finished, he gestured to the chuunin behind him. "Thank you, everyone. And now, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome two new ninja into our ranks." Eyes landing on the two men almost immediately, he nodded firmly. "Please come forward, Zabuza Momochi and Haku," he said ceremonially.

Quickly masking their surprise, the two stepped forward though their movements showed their uncertainties. Gently, their leader took off their blank forehead protectors and presented them with their new ones. "I have absolute confidence that no one here has any doubt as to where your loyalties lie after observing your actions in the last couple of months, and especially in your achievements in the recent war."

The crowd cheered and instantly opened up their circle, welcoming their two newest members with open arms. Kakashi made sure he was the first to slap Zabuza's back, though he pretended to miss and hit the man's head a couple of times instead.

"Now, go and bring this village back to its former glory!"

"Yes sir!"

Having had been dismissed, Kakashi stretched lightly as he waited for the crowd to thin out before taking him leave. He thought over the new information he had gathered today and began to modify his to-do list as several things taken from the debriefing had taken priority. However, something, or the lack of something in his memory caused him to stop and jerk around, making the chuunin behind him to yelp and back-paddled into his colleague.

Ignoring the dark muttering and the sharp intake of breath as the offended chuunin recognised just exactly who he was calling an 'old, bird brained man', Kakashi realised that there was one story that he did not hear today. One that he had wanted to hear the most.

His eyes instantly sought out the all-too-familiar white head despite the boy's shortness, and watched as the Hokage and senin opened their ring to accept him. There was no moment of hesitation, no sense of seniority in face of the differences in rank, nor indignation at the invasion of privacy.

Kakashi was suddenly reminded of the oil droplets that were floating on top of his instant ramen soup that was his breakfast. For a few seconds amidst his serious glum this morning, he was childishly fascinated by how two separate droplets, each its own entity, managed to join and expand into a bigger one so flawlessly. There was no opposition, no complaints. Because they were equal.

And so was Yuki Hitsuka.

Staring hard at the group, his surroundings faded into the back of his mind as people around him avoided him. He read the tensed body language and stony facial expressions, and he knew that there was something more, something important that the rest of them did not hear.

He saw Jiraiya's red face and Sandaime's sigh and Tsunade's white knuckles on Hitsuka's shoulder. With a tensed nod, the great leader guided the boy towards his office; his voluminous rob obstructing Hitsuka from Kakashi's view.

It was just so happened that the Hokage dropped his arm slightly, and just so happened that Hitsuka looked over his shoulder in that instance. Their eyes met briefly, Kakashi's full of feigned coldness though there was a hint of concern, and – to the surprise of the silver-haired man – Hitsuka's were so very sad. Kakashi actually took a step forward, so profound was the sadness in those eyes.

Hitsuka stopped and his companions walked ahead a couple of steps before realising he was lagging behind. Without a word, they waited silently as the serious boy bowed deeply in the direction of his teacher.

It was then Kakashi knew. How he knew he did not know and could not say. But he just knew.

He had lost Hitsuka,

In which sense he could not pinpoint and that frustrated him deeply. He wanted to grab the boy by his arms and shake him until he came to his senses.

"Stop!" he would yell, though to stop what was a mystery to him. "Stop!"

But Hitsuka was already gone. The moment had passed and life went on.

Kakashi hoped and prayed that what had just happened was only a fragment of his imagination, that his gut instinct was wrong. But the intellectual side of his brain knew he was not the only witness to this very public display and his gut instinct was never wrong.

_At the HQ_

"Hitsuka," Sandaime said solemnly, his eyes hard on the boy, "you have been silent for too long."

Thinking that he had been in this situation for far too many times to be healthy, Hitsuka resigned to his fate with a sigh. "Where should I start?" he asked, stalling for time so that he could make up his mind – to tell the truth or not?

"Gaara of the Suna, if you will."

Hmm… if he told them the Gaara that was doing all the damage control was in fact the Shuushuuka in Henge, they would then know he was a Ki. He did not think that would go down particularly well. Especially since he had no doubt they would make the connection with him and the two Hokage. In that case, there was no way he would tell them what he was going to do in the near future.

So, really, what choice did he have?

"Well… during my training, I had come across this jutsu that allows its user to transfer someone else's jutsu to an object or objects. That was how I was able to make an ice spearhead by using Haku's own jutsu," he explained, lying straight through his teeth with his well-rehearsed story. "So, after I had dealt with Shukaku, I transferred Gaara's jutsu, well, technically his chakra, to sand and pretended to be him because I knew the Suna-nin would be confused and Gaara was in no state to perform this task. Unfortunately that meant I was killing under his name…" he trailed off, feeling very guilty.

Sandaime frowned lightly. He had heard of such jutsu but he did not know it could be applied to the Bijuu. Then again, had anyone try it before? Besides, this would explain why Hitsuka was found in a dead faint with his chakra reserve almost empty.

But what about the two previous Hokage? According to his student, the bodies of the two men dissolved into dust after Hitsuka had been there. However, that could simply be due to Orochimaru cancelling his jutsu to conserve his chakra. What could Hitsuka have done by merely touching them?

Finally, he decided to let go of his anger and allow his grandfatherly concern of the boy washed over him. "Hitsuka, you have to take care of yourself!" he said, a memory of the prone, motionless body surfaced. He remembered how he almost had a heart attack when they found him.

The boy smiled weakly at him. "I'll try, Hokage-sama," he said as he crossed his fingers in his laps. "I'll try."

_Later that week_

So life at Konoha had finally continued on with its people working to recover from the war. Ninja young or old, genin or anbu, were all over the place on an assignment, errand, or simply just cleaning up. While Konoha was cleaning up, Suna was busy with maintaining their peace with the powerful village. But, as the Hokage was an understanding man who knew the real story, the Treaty was not damaged and Suna had agreed to help with the restoration. The Oto-nin who were captured received medical attention before they were brought back to their cells, their fates still an uncertainty. And, unfortunately, the Chuunin Exam was cancelled and all the villages of the finalists understood perfectly well that this was not the time to focus on such thing. Thus, any promotion would have to be done at a later date.

Having had been so busy day and night, Hitsuka found himself with a moment of peace to have a breather. Sitting down at his desk with a cup of tea, he thought about his next move and when he should execute it. His timing must be right, for his life might very well depend on it.

"Hitsuka."

The said boy looked up, swallowing the greeting that was on his lips when he saw the other's facial expression and body language. A resigned look overtook his face as he though with a hint of regret, 'I guess I can no longer hide behind the confusion left by the war. And he… he deserves this…' Closing his eyes for a moment to prepare himself, he asked, "What would you like to know?"

Not surprised by how accepting Hitsuka was, Haku merely nodded his thanks before sitting down slowly, using this action to buy him some time to decide which question he should start with. Coming to a decision, he looked up. "Who… are you?"

Lifting an eyebrow at such an open question, Hitsuka grinned lightly despite the grave situation when the other responded with a soft blush. Then he grew serious as he wondered just how much was needed to be said. Looking at his friend – cheeks still tinged with pink – his partner, he realised if he was to succeed in what he was planning to do, he first needed this teen's support and help.

The question was can he trust him?

Of course he could.

Thus, the next few hours were spent on explaining his role as an anbu, his relationship with Orochimaru, his knowledge of the current situation while avoiding any mention of his source, and lastly, his Kekkei Genkai.

"I knew it," Haku said softly, his mind overwhelmed thus he quickly latched on to having his suspicious being confirmed, something that was concrete. "When we fought, that lingering chakra… was mine!"

Nodding, Hitsuka smiled somewhat apologetically. "I can absorb people's jutsu along with their chakra within that jutsu, and use them as my own," he elaborated, being completely truthful with the teen and knowing he could. "Kind of like charging up a battery and using it."

Haku frowned. "Is that why Orochimaru want you? Your Kekkei Genkai? But it's not like the Sharingan that can learn the jutsu… So why?"

An uncomfortable look flitted across the white haired boy's face, and he was hesitant in his reply. "The strength of Ki Clan's Kekkei Genkai does not lie in the 'borrowing', but rather the 'stealing'." At Haku's confusion, he took a deep breath and elaborated, "Foreign chakra is not the only thing I can absorb… I can also absorb people's soul, leaving their body dead. And by internalising that soul, I can steal that person's knowledge and jutsu… including Kekkei Genkai."

Staring wide eyed at the other, Haku wasn't sure if he should believe what he had just heard or laugh hysterically at how ridiculously clear everything had just became. He so desperately wished he could just do the former.

Shifting awkwardly under the intense, unwavering gaze, Hitsuka was started out of his guilty embarrassment by the sudden question, "Why is it that I've never heard of such powerful Clan in the history of any village?"

Now it was Hitsuka's turn to stare. He couldn't believe how accepting Haku was. Here he was, telling the teen he could suck out someone soul and basically digest it like his lunch, and instead of screaming murder, he remained by his side.

Seeing the emotion-filled eyes of Hitsuka, Haku smiled sincerely and punched the other lightly on the shoulder. "Go on," he prompted lightly.

Smiling back at him, Hitsuka answered, "The Ki Clan was never really that ambitious, content to remain in the background and keep to themselves. Then," here he shrugged, "the history had simply forgotten about them."

Raising an eyebrow to show just how much he believed in this simple explanation, Haku waited for more. He had known enough about his partner to know he was still hesitant to continue; thus he was patient with him.

Realising he was not getting off so easily, Hitsuka chided himself for holding back when he should really should be spilling his guts. "It also takes time to fully 'digest' someone's soul, depending on that person's power. And… there's also a side effect." His face paled from knowing but not understanding his fate, but he braved on nevertheless, "We'll gradually lose our minds after each use, turning into a mindless killing machine."

Haku was suddenly reminded of the monster in the clearing of the Forest of Death, bursts of bloodlust demanding to be satisfied rolling off him in suffocating waves, choking and surprising even the hunter-nin that was within him.

That was his friend, his partner. He trusted him with his life and would not doubt his words. If that 'monster' was a preview of what he would become…

"I'll never allow that to happen!" he said firmly, grabbing the other's forearms tightly to finalise his point. And he knew he was the only one entrusted with this job as Hitsuka had allowed this information to him only. "Never!"

Hearing this, Hitsuka smiled sadly. "Haku, thank you. But I…" He swallowed and looked straight into the other's eyes, speaking out the words that he had yet to voice out loud: "I intend to go to him."

The snow boy's reaction was so bizarrely explosive that Hitsuka almost snorted in amusement, having had found it funny. Slamming into the wall of his bedroom with a loud crash, causing a few books from his shelf to jump off from their space, he stared up at the livid teen before him while absent-mindedly being thankful that they were along in the apartment.

"Why, Hitsuka? Why?" was the tightly whispered question. "Why must you always be the hero?"

Unsure if it was because of the loud ringing in his ears or the absurdity of the question, the boy answered intelligently, "Huh?"

"Zabuza-san and I, Sasuke back in the Forest of Death… and now…"

Finally understanding where the other was coming from, Hitsuka replied as he sat up slowly, "If you knew you could make a difference, you would have done the same in my position. By doing this, I could potentially give Konoha a few years of peace, time for its people to prepare for what coming up."

"You don't know that!"

"Then what will you have me do!" Hitsuka was shouting now, grabbing onto his partner's collars as his temper finally got the better of him. "What will you have me do? Run away and hide? Abandon my life here so I could escape the one being that bastard's son?" He snorted humourlessly, a sneer on his lips to hide his shame as he admitted, "I will be lying if I say I didn't think about it. In fact, I had such an argument with myself that I almost punch myself in the face. I don't want this, I hate to be in this position and I don't want to go! …But I…"

Haku felt the hands on his collar tightened momentarily before they complete slacked and slid off his shoulders. Catching and holding on to them tightly, for a second he feared if he did not do so, he would lose his friend.

"I… I love my brother, my friends, my teachers and this village. I cannot run away, knowing exactly what kind of mess I will be leaving them in." Looking into his friend's eye, his own suddenly full of unwavering determination and courage. "That's why I am doing this!"

Finally, the snow boy sighed in defeat, knowing no matter what he did, he could not stop Hitsuka from doing what he wanted. Of course, he could report to the Hokage whom he had no doubt would have the power to deal with the situation. But would that be the wisest thing to do? Would he be betraying the trust that was placed in him?

Glaring at the now smiling Hitsuka, he couldn't help but return with a weak version of his own. "I hate you…" he said in mock anger for he was glad that he was the one that the boy had confided in.

At this, Hitsuka quickly apologised, truly sorry, "I know it's unfair for me to burden you with all these information and for that, I am sorry." But then, he grinned mischievously. "But hey, since we've gone straight past the hand-holding stage, it's alright, right?"

Seeing the rising red on the other's check – the kind of red that usually ended in someone being severely deformed – the white-haired boy mentally smacked his own mouth for running off on him. Then, the next little while involved a lot of screamed "I am sorry! I had to!" and "I don't care!", followed by lots of running and smashing, not necessarily of inert objects.

"What kind of dude cares about their first kiss!"

"When this 'dude's' was given to another dude!"

Finally, when the dust had settled any one lumpy mass was groaning with pain on the floor, Haku sobered up. Holding out his newly gifted forehead protector to the other, he said, "Hitsuka, give me yours." Raising an eyebrow in puzzlement, the white-haired boy's silent question was quickly answered. "I… I cannot stand seeing your own becoming that of missing-nin. It was fine for me as I did not think the Mizu was my home. But Konoha, it means everything to you and I just know how much it will distraught you should it… I will take care of it until you're back."

Eyes shining with unshed tears, Hitsuka was lost for words as his heart swelled with gratefulness. "Thank you, just… thank you," he whispered, his soul lighter as a burden was lifted.

"Hey, what are friends for?"

* * *

(1) The Japanese papered sliding door.

(2) Literally means the Soul Collector.

So, that's it for this chapter. No cliff hanger, as usual. Didn't really move the plot forward, though… But, I can tell you what's coming up next! Of course, to the faithful followers of Naruto the manga, they would know what coming next. Itachi! (Bah dum pch…!) And whatever else that my mind can come up with…


End file.
